High School DxD Star Shooter
by AbaddontheDevourer
Summary: Inspired by the works of Makoto x Chelia. Join Leo Aurelianus, mercenary extraordinaire, as he stirs up trouble with the various factions. Enchanter/Alchemist!Protagonist. Strong MC! World building with various myths and religions. Canon Divergences. Issei x Harem. OC x Harem. Picture is Akira Seda from Koiken Otome. I do not own that VN nor do I own Highschool DxD! Lemons!
1. Act I: Future Portents

The world was on fire. All around him, a sea of flames devoured anything it touched. Fiery tongues licked the walls of homes greedily devouring years of memories, as the death cries of the victims pierced through the raging inferno's roar. Some, crying out in the hope of salvation, others screaming and wailing to the point that his ears began to hurt, others screaming names of loved ones they would never see again, they all had one thing in common though soon silence would fall.

Death was nothing new to him, after all Leo had seen his father kill people by the dozen, and even ordered more to their deaths. However this was different it was primal slaughter, the victims having no hope of ever fighting back. The word massacre didn't even do it justice. Everything that the people had ever loved, every dream snuffed like a candle in the wind. It was complete and utter annihilation, as chaos reigned.

He could imagine them reaching their hands skyward attempting to grab hold of something that only those on the brink of death could see, beseeching their Gods to show them mercy. Those closest to him, he saw were reaching out not towards the heavens but towards the womanly figure that stood steadfast in the heat of this hellish blaze. Clad in immaculate white, her very aura pulsing silver, more beautiful than words can do justice, raven hair billowing in the gusts of flame, like a cape surrounding her noble form.

To them she must have seemed an angel, sent by their deity to heal them, a reward for their lives at this point. He could feel his lips curling at the thought. If they had honestly believed that god would show them mercy for the way they acted then they either must not have read their own scriptures or were deluded enough to believe themselves worthy of salvation. Humans were worthless, a mistake, of that he was sure, and the God that created them must've been thinking the same thing at this very moment. This angelic figure was no divine messenger though, for if one looked closely you could hear her cackling madly, arms spread wide, moving as though she were dancing. Under her feet were not wooden boards but the fragile bones of those consumed by the flames she wrought. She turned agilely dodging those outstretched hands, before stepping in crushing them at the wrist, never losing sync with the song of carnage. The pounding of heavy metal on the cobblestone road served as a staccato punctuating her every flourish, growing louder and louder, as her movement grew frenzied, as if she could sense the end was near.

Knights clad in silver plate burst through the wall of flames, leveling their swords at her. Magic words spiraled around their blades, as power was focused towards her. Chains thick as a man appeared, wrapping themselves so tightly that they threatened to crush her lungs. She fell to the floor, as the knights swung their blades downwards. Massive eyebolts burst into existence connecting themselves to the chains; they struck the ground anchoring themselves deep within the earth. She was not able to wiggle even a finger the way that she was bound, yet they still did not approach her. Raising their blades they called forth a shower of heavenly spears that transfixed her to the ground, and only after the final spear had fallen did they cautiously advance. They were steps away when they saw it, the pulsing silver aura threatening to overwhelm their combined powers. Spears fizzled out of existence as power rushed throughout her body instantaneously healing her wounds. The knights, realizing their peril charged forth burying their blades into her chest, and hacking her apart. The chains that had previously bound her no longer existed, as power was concentrated into destroying her. The swords that had pierced her chest she ripped out, with severed arms that had reattached themselves. Those blades that came to take her head she caught bare handed, bending the metal before snapping them in half. Her hands were her weapons, her nails like talons as she plunged them into the eye slits of one of the knights. She proceeded to lift him via his eye sockets before hurling him over her head and into the raging inferno. Then she began to laugh. A cackling sound that chilled you to the bone and from which nightmares were spawned.

She clawed through the knight's armor each swipe scratching the plate as if she were swinging a sword. She tore the head off one knight that could not escape her grasp quickly enough, another she kicked in the helm putting a massive depression into the metal and killing the man instantly. Those who were left turned and fled but she chased the last one down her hand open like a spear that she thrust forth into his lower back. Catching him by the spine she plunged her other hand in and lifting her victim into the air tore him in half. Her dress once as white as freshly fallen snow, was stained crimson, as she bathed in the blood of her victims.

"Mother," Leo croaked, reaching out towards her. Begging her to come back, refusing to believe in what his eyes saw. Then she turned to him, flinging away the two halves of the once noble knight, her hand raised high above her head. All around her the flames died out, the energy flying toward her outstretched palm. Not even embers remained before the fire burst back to life looking like a pillar of flames. She dropped her arm in a chopping motion and the pillar fell with it, like a massive sword it cleaved through the city. When she had it parallel to the ground she began to sweep her arm, the fiery blade burning away any hope of resistance. Just when he thought that the horror would never end it did, as the hell spawned blade fizzled away into oblivion.

"Mother," he pleaded desperately. Another woman appeared in opposition to the demon that was ravaging the city. The two looked exactly the same, twins, there only difference being the clothing they wore. Where the demon was clad in a white dress stained crimson in the blood of her enemies and bore a seductive if insane smile, the newcomer wore a form fitting black dress trimmed in gold and was not smiling.

"Sister." The newcomer glared over her pince-nez. "You can't even understand me anymore can you?"

In response the white and crimson woman, cackled and began throwing fireballs.

The newcomer sighed. "Huhhh. What a troublesome brat you are." Snapping her fingers space itself was distorted as the oncoming fireballs were sucked into portals that led to the void.

The bloodstained woman, stared at the lack of damage dumbly. "I see." Leo's mother said. "Merging yourself with Surtr has destroyed any intelligence you previously had. How sad to see the once proud Flame Empress reduced to this."

The Flame Empress let loose another bestial roar, charging his mother, her fists engulfed in flames.

"You were once my greatest rival. Your flames capable of burning through even a dragon's scales, but now killing you would be almost trivial." With a wave of her hand the charging Flame Empress was stopped dead in her tracks. "However you're still family, and unlike you I hold the rule of family first in the highest esteem."

"Begone Sister. A few years in insolation will hopefully be enough time for you to regain your mind from Surtr's hold."

Her voice must've pierced the shell of her insanity, and for an instant he saw the aunt that had cared for him, nurtured him, taught him how to cast his first spell, and snuck him treats when he was in trouble. "Sis…ter." The bloodstained beauty managed to say.

It was fleeting though as inhuman lunacy returned to her, fixing him with her deathly gaze.

Gesturing towards him, he felt his limbs become weightless as he was lifted off the ground. With a thrust of her hand he flew, crashing into anything and everything in his path. Bones shattered from the blows, the breath whooshing out of him with every impact, as he struggled to draw the next breath as his lungs were pierced by broken ribs. Finally he crashed against something that refused to budge, and slid down the wall like a bug on a pane of glass.

"Leo!" His mother cried out teleporting to his side in an instant.

In the distance he could see his aunt break free of her bonds, slowly stalking towards them like a predator moving in for the kill. He was powerless to do anything, his body unable to move, limbs broken, his consciousness fading in and out of the darkness. His vision narrowed to pinholes until all he could see was her.

"Mother." He gasped, the desperation and fear was nearly palpable. He gestured with his eyes towards where his insane aunt was. She caught the slight movement and without any hesitation wrapped her arms around his damaged frame and teleported them away, just in time. A massive holocaust sprung up where they had been second later consuming the area.

His aunt licked her lips, a sadistic look plastered on her face as her body shook in ecstasy.

"You bitch." His mother growled, releasing a pulsing purple aura that began to warp reality itself. "First you kill my husband, and now you try to kill my son!" The dam broke and for once he saw the face that had caused even Gods to turn tail and run. Her visage was like an angel, that didn't change, but the sheer malice and power that she was exuding was enough to choke the breath out of him. Terrified didn't even begin to describe what he was feeling. How he wished he was able to forget that horrifying and demonic image. On some subconscious level he knew that this was still his mother but seeing her like this it was hard to equate the two.

She reached out caressing his cheek, and the dream turned into a nightmarish reality. "Be safe." Pain greater than any he had ever felt before shot through him, branding his right arm with the Family's magical crest. The physical pain hurt but he knew that he'd get over it, what hurt most was her declaration. It was as if she didn't expect to survive this fight regardless of her earlier boasting. Why? He could not answer that question as his vision began to fade. He could no longer feel any part of himself as the last image burned into his mind was his mother, stepping away from him to confront his aunt, her power shredding everything around her to dust.

"Mommy?" He cried, seeing his mother disappear only to teleport in front of his aunt, her right hand open as she gripped her sister's face. The next moment there was a sharp crack and they both disappeared.

Sadness and grief filled the void left in his heart. His entire family lay dead around him, burnt to fine ash completely indistinguishable from one another. His eyes closed as the pain he bore grew to be too much.

* * *

6 years later

"Leo." A voice called rousing his from his sleep.

Opening his eyes he blinked, wondering why the entire world was grey and black. "Leo, get up you have a customer." The voice said once more. There was a rusting as the world went from grey and black to blinding white as light poured down on his face.

"Hissss." He swore slapping a hand to his face, covering his eyes.

"Come on, you can't keep a customer waiting."

"Cornelia, unless this person can actually afford my service I'm going back to sleep."

"Is that anyway to treat a family customer, Leo? Your father would probably be rolling in his grave if he saw how you're treating his old drinking buddy." A man said.

Leo was awake in an instant, sitting up from the chair he had been lounging in. "Azazel." He smiled at his crazy pseudo-uncle.

Giving him a quick look over, he couldn't help but notice that the man's normally perfectly combed black and gold hair was disheveled to 'bed head'. He was also wearing a loose fitting kimono as he sluggishly responded. "What's up kid?"

"Late night. You?"

"Late night as well." Azazel yawned.

"You've both got a bit of lipstick on your face." Cornelia deadpanned, taking a handkerchief from her breast pocket.

"You look radiant as always Cornelia." Azazel praised. Leo couldn't help but agree as he saw his attendant and best friend standing at his side. Her dark purple hair which would normally have fallen to mid back had been loosely gathered and thrown over her shoulder. She wore a maroon tailcoat elegantly trimmed in gold and buttoned to her neck with a white cravat as well as maroon pants. Lastly she wore white gloves and boot that reached her knees. "When are you going to give up on this stickler and come work with me?"

"If I did I fear my chastity would be in danger." Cornelia said.

"Really old man?" Leo asked, raising a brow at the Leader of the Grigori.

"Hey I'm not that old." Leo and Cornelia stared at him blankly. "Okay so I may be old but I'm young and spry enough that I still score with high schoolers." Azazel boasted.

"Pedophile." "Pervert." Leo and Cornelia snarked.

"And proud of it." Azazel said. "When you're as old as I am just about everyone is a child."

"So what's going on Azazel?" Leo asked. "Finally decide you needed my help to create your Blazer Shining Aura Darkness Blade?" He smirked at the downcast expression of the Governor. "You know Gabriel passed a copy of that report to me, and I've got say that there's plenty of room for improvement."

"Shut up! Because of that bastard brother of hers I had the frickin' leaders call me Blazer Shining Aura Darkness Blade Governor for months. They kept making fun of my ultimate sacred gear."

"Maybe next time you should have a proof of concept before you compile a report." Leo said, taking a cup of tea that Cornelia had prepared for him.

She handed Azazel a small phial. "Be thankful that you're my master's friend. That vial in your hand is expensive." She glared.

Azazel waved his hand dismissively as he removed the stopped from the vial. Taking a tentative sniff he recoiled. "Ugh, what's in here?"

"It's Cornelia's family recipe. Cures a hangover in minutes." Leo said taking the phial that Cornelia handed to him. "Down the hatch."

Azazel and he swallowed the potion. "Minty." Leo said staring at the vial, inwardly laughing as his pseudo-uncle coughed and hacked as the foul liquid worked its way down his throat.

"Minty?" Azazel exclaimed. "That thing tasted like pickled fish mixed with the training room after Vali puts everyone through their paces."

"That's because your last check bounced." Cornelia smirked.

"Impossible."

"No what's impossible is Cornelia and I taking a vacation because neither of us were staring at a 12 digit addition to our bank account." Leo said gruffly, leaning back onto his chair. "The only reason that you haven't had a foot of steel shoved through you is that your family, and we know you're good for it."

"Though I have to wonder, did you send Mittelt, knowing that the check wouldn't clear? I mean she's cute and all, perfect for some people to have their way with, but she's like my little sister. If it were any of the others Cornelia would've probably sent them back to you in pieces, or traumatized."

"Just to remind you you're currently in debt by 100 million." Cornelia said pulling a small notebook out of her pocket.

"Yen?" Azazel asked hopefully.

"Dollars." Cornelia grinned. "Your last invoice was for 5 low grade magic amplifiers, 3 paragon class 100 carat stones to be delivered to someone named Kandy."

"That's Kandy with a K." Leo smiled, noticing how uncomfortable the Fallen Governor was becoming. "New lady friend?"

"And lastly a pair of healing rings that while sub-par to Phoenix Tears are reusable. I hope that you have some sort of compensation on you right now." Cornelia finished, casting a critical eye over the Governor, more specifically noticing the lack of a briefcase or any sort of bag capable of holding the amount required to settle his debts.

"Well you see." He chuckled nervously; slowly inching towards Leo knowing that Cornelia wouldn't fire at him while he was in the blast zone. "I actually came here to ask my nephew for a favor."

"You should know Azazel that we're mercenaries, enchanters, alchemists and a myriad of other things. However the one thing we aren't is cheap." Cornelia said sternly.

"Look I'll pay." Azazel reassured, holding up his hands. "If not in money then in favors or artifacts. Just call off your attack dog."

"10 favors, non-negotiable." Leo said.

"Fine, fine." Azazel said. "But for what I came today for I'll pay in advance." Saying that Azazel waved his hand, and pulled out a small glowing orb.

"Is that what I think it is?" Leo said jumping to his feet to get a closer look at the orb.

"Yeah it's a sacred gear. One of my Agents found the user dying after running into a Stray Devil. The man was too far gone for any treatment besides phoenix tears, but we managed to extract this before it could move on."

"Which one is it?" Cornelia asked.

"It's one of the Sterling Series." Azazel smirked.

"You're joking." Leo cried.

"Swear it on my mother's life."

"You don't have a mother." Cornelia said.

"Thank you dear." Azazel said sarcastically. "Thank you for bringing up the painful memories that the lack of a mother burdened me with."

"Focus." Leo commanded. "God, it's like I'm dealing with children." He ignored the cries of protest from the two of them, and looked at the orb once more. "Do you know which of the Sterling series it is?"

"Our tests show that it's Sterling Red."

"That means I just need Green to complete the set." Leo grinned. With a single thought a pistol materialized in each hand. Both were identical, being a cross between a long barreled Desert Eagle and a 1911. The barrel was about 10 inches in length but instead of the barrel just being extended as seen in normal models the entire slide and frame had been stretched forward ending in a six slotted muzzle break. From the 1911 it had a pistol grip safety. Of course the most distinguishing feature was that while it was capable of firing standard bullets its main ammunition was a rotating beam of holy light.

"Sterling Blue." Azazel said. "I still can't believe that you got a subspecies version. Normally it takes the form of a bow."

"I have no experience with a bow." Leo explained for the umpteenth time. "The only thing I know are pistols, and I guess it sensed my familiarity with them and adapted itself to suit my needs."

"Subspecies are rare and powerful. Such that even common sacred gears like the Sterling series are able to stand against a Longinus."

"Don't I know it." Leo sighed. "Every time I visit the Grigori research center Vali manages to rope me into a spar. Fighting one of the Heavenly Dragons is not something that I recommend."

"Of course she wants to fight you." Azazel said. "You're the only person to have knocked her out twice."

"The first time was when we were kids, and she didn't have a handle on Divine Dividing. The second time, which was after a dozen or so draws and a few losses only happened because I surprised her with my secret weapon, and broke my wrist after firing it."

"Anyone would break there wrist after firing that behemoth one handed." Azazel pointed out. "Still though this job is going to put you in contact with the local devil population."

"Hisss." Leo and Cornelia snarled. There was no love lost between them and the devils especially since their greed wouldn't allow two powerful magicians like them to roam around without a contract. They had several fights against devils who became too pushy, and a dozen or so encounters with the Phoenix family who tried to stop them from selling their healing items and were driving down their business.

Both of them had managed to escape before doing any lasting damage, though the Phoenix family had learned to leave them alone after being bound in the blessed chains.

"Which devils?" Cornelia asked.

"Sitri and Gremory."

"Can't even kill them considering their ties with the Maous." Leo grumbled, before casting a longing gaze towards Sterling Red. "It's up to you Lia, do you want to take the job or we can continue lounging around."

"I noticed you guys seem to be enjoying yourselves." Azazel smiled, looking at the deserted beach and the single villa. "I hope that you kids aren't getting up to anything that I wouldn't do."

"So anything short of starting a war is pretty much okay." Leo asked. "And no, you can't use this place to bring whoever you manage to seduce for the night. This is mine and Cornelia's retreat and we enjoy our privacy."

"Stick with the love hotels, pervert governor." Cornelia said. "We'll take the job, but I expect you to settle your debts by the time it's over. And I'll be needing compensation for myself."

"I figured as much." Azazel groaned, pulling an envelope out of his kimono, and handing it to her. Opening the envelope she began counting the green bills that spilled forth. She did this twice, before shooting a look at the Fallen Governor. "Half now, half at the completion of the mission."

"Acceptable. Now what's the mission?"

"An observation team was assigned to Kuoh to watch a certain Sacred Gear possessor, Issei Hyoudou. The last communication went off without a hitch and they reported that they were continuing their observations and that the Devils were beginning to take an interest in him."

"So what's the problem?" Leo asked.

"They've missed their last few check-ins, so I can't really tell you what's happening. Get into the city, find out what happened to the team and report back to me. If the team has been compromised continue observation of the target while I put together a new team to relieve you."

"And if they've gone rogue?"

"I highly doubt it considering that Raynare's the one leading it."

"Your stalker?" Leo asked.

"She's not a stalker. She's just really enthusiastic about pleasing me and Shemhazai."

"Sure, and I was just imagining the small shrine she has of you." Cornelia remarked. Both men turned to her, shooting her a quizzical look. "Girl's night."

""Ah."" Azazel and Leo said at the same time.

"Why don't we have guys night?"

"I already take you out for drinks and to pick up women. What more do you want from me?" Azazel demanded.

"How about not cockblocking me when you're trying to act as my wingman, take the grenade once in a while, and not randomly show up on our doorstep sloshed."

"That's your own damn fault, you're out of practice with all the sex you and Cornelia have, and if you really didn't want me you'd have changed the locks on the door or at least thrown up a few wards."

Leo shook his head, jotting a mental note to do exactly that. "Since we've hammered out the specifics, can I have my payment? I want to see how it reacts to another sacred gear."

"This should be interesting." Azazel said handing over the orb. "The guys in the lab have a pool going on. Most are saying that nothing happens and it remains a separate gear, then they're saying that it causes some sort of instability and both gears explode catastrophically, and lastly the minority says that the two will combine."

"Which one do believe will happen?" Leo asked.

"Sacred gears respond to their owner's feelings, and your desires are strong. I think that they're going to combine." Azazel said.

"I hope you have money down on that, because that's exactly what's going to happen." Leo said confidently. "Lia please place a barrier down just in case some stray energy is released."

"As you command." She responded, snapping her fingers to erect a barrier around him.

"Now it's just you and me." Leo grinned. "Sterling Blue, it's time to meet your counterpart." Placing the barrel against the orb, he willed the two to join together. A purple wave, a mix of Red and Blue, burst forth as the two sacred gears tried to assert their dominance over one another and him. Sterling Red was rejecting him, telling him that it didn't belong to him, but the combined efforts of him and Sterling Blue slowly began to overpower the reluctant gear. A minute passed before Sterling Red finally succumbed to him, its power dispersing and joining with his.

Turning to Cornelia and Azazel, he waved his hand signaling that it was safe. The barrier dissipated in a shower of golden sparks. "Well that was kind of anti-climactic." Azazel commented. "On the bright side with my winning's I could definitely pay off a good chuck of the money I owe you guys."

"Are there any changes?"

"Physically no." Leo answered. "Weight, balance, shape, everything is the same as it was previously."

"Maybe you should fire a burst." Azazel said, rubbing his chin in thought. "The Sterling series are identical weapons with the only separating feature being the color of the attack."

Shrugging his shoulders he took aim towards the ocean, just in case the attack was more potent than he remembered. "Wait." Azazel stopped, pulling out a gun from his kimono.

"Where the hell were you keeping that?" Cornelia asked.

"Hammerspace." With another wave of his hand he materialized what looked like a chronograph. "This way we get an accurate reading on the power."

Banishing his sacred gear, he grabbed the standard exorcist pistol designed to fire bullets blessed by priests and embedded with Holy Light. "Ready?"

"Go for it." Firing through the chronograph, he waited for the number to display before he returned the weapon to Azazel. "167. Guaranteed to pierce a low class to mid-class devil and wound them. Death by Light poisoning within an hour if left untreated."

"Try one of the new pistols that you sent to Gabriel for testing." Cornelia said.

Azazel shot him a look. "You sent a new weapon to the Angel side?"

He waved off the Fallen Governor's concerns. "Like Cornelia told you earlier we're mercenaries. Gabriel came to me with a request and I did my best to fulfill it."

"I didn't realize that you were branching into the arms business."

"We're just getting started." Leo said. "Gabriel, the Exorcist Quartermaster, and the Finance Department drew up a contract for us to supply them with 200 new pistols over the next year. And no, I can't sell it to you. They paid extra for the weapons to remain exclusive."

He saw the downcast expression on the Governor. "But because you're family I'll let you shoot one." Azazel's face turned to glee as he eagerly grabbed the new pistol that looked the exact same as the standard one. "We decided to keep the design the same and all other physical features as close to the original as possible, that way there would be no learning curve for those with experience using them."

Cackling, Azazel took aim and fired through the chronograph. "I don't understand." He sounded disappointed, when the number barely increased to 200. "Granted it's much more potent but you'll still need multiple hits to kill a high-class devil."

Leo couldn't help but roll his eyes. "The power output increase is just the tip of the iceberg; however I can't tell you anything else as it's all proprietary and protected by a contract." Taking the pistol away he tossed it over to Cornelia who had set up a small table to display the various weapons.

"Now for the piece de resistance." Leo grinned, exaggeratedly drawing a single pistol from within his coat. "Sterling Purple."

"Purple? Really?" Azazel and Cornelia shot him deadpanned looks, once again reminded why he was not allowed to name anything. And this was coming from a person who wanted to name his weapon Blazer Shining Aura Darkness Blade.

"Et tu, Cornelia ?" Leo shot back. "It's a mix of Blue and Red, hence purple."

Muttering about perverted governors and his crazy knight, he took aim, and fired through the meter. True to the name a purple beam was discharged from the barrel. The beam continued to travel, like a continuous laser, and after 5 seconds Leo released the trigger causing it to dissipate. "4000 and climbing the longer I held the trigger." He grinned. "Enough to pierce the defenses of an Ultimate Class Devil in a single strike."

"A little too conspicuous don't you think?" Azazel asked. "I mean I love lasers as much as the next scifi freak, but I can imagine that it would draw staggering amounts of power to maintain it. Can you fire light bullets like you did when you just had Sterling Blue?"

"Of course." Leo smirked. "I'm insulted that you would doubt me."

In rapid succession he fired several shots from his gear, each one causing the reader to display 600+- 20. "I could also fire a single charged shot." The reader displayed 1500. "And just a few weeks ago I managed to manipulate the light to form an orb that can be fired towards the ceiling. It will then begin to rain down light beams in a devastatingly random pattern."

"You've really advanced such a simple gear, one that was looked down on by most for being two one sided and situational. Though it's all thanks to your subspecies. I highly doubt that another user of the Sterling Series will be able to accomplish what you've done."

"Quite a compliment coming from the head of the Grigori, and a confirmed Sacred Gear Fanatic." Leo smiled.

"Your parents would be proud of you kid." Azazel said placing a hand on his shoulder. Waving his hand once more he pulled out two folders. "Here's the information for the job, as well as the paper work needed to set yourselves up as students. While you're there you can crash at my place."

"I'll take that." Cornelia said plucking the folders out of his grip. "Why don't you go check on our guest inside, while I finalize all the details."

"Are you sure?" Leo asked.

"Yeah, entertain our guest. This won't take long."

Turning he cast a final look at Azazel who simply shrugged, before he headed to the manor.

When he finally disappeared, Cornelia turned and shot the Fallen Governor a piercing look. "What are you trying to pull?"

"I don't know what you mean?" Azazel said holing up his hands, his face the very picture of innocence.

"This is grunt work." Cornelia said. "You could easily send another team to find out the status of the missing group." He was about to respond, when Cornelia's aura burst forth, a saber materializing in her hand pointed at his throat. "So I say again, what are you planning?"

"Fine, fine." Azazel said, pushing the saber away. "How long have you known Leo?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" She asked, keeping a firm grip on her weapon, ready to strike in an instant.

"Just answer the question."

"We're both 18 so almost 11 years now." She answered.

"And in that 10 years, can you tell me how many friends he's made."

"Well there's me, then you, Gabriel, Mephisto–"

"Exactly!" Azazel said. "Out of all his friends the only one that's close to him in age is you. The rest of us grew up thousands of years ago. He's got no friends his age, and growing up he didn't have much of a childhood. Instead he began to imitate those of us around him."

"Well that's not exactly a bad thing." Cornelia said, allowing her saber to fade away before she crossed her arms underneath her bust. "As loath as I am to admit it, both you and Mephisto aren't that bad of role models."

He turned to stare at her incredulously. "Are you serious? Mephisto is a lazy bastard who prefers to take a hands off approach to running his organization. The only reason that we have so many stray magicians running around is because they got fed up of him and his lackadaisical attitude. Me, well I'm the first to admit that I'm not a good parental figure."

"Well then it's good that Leo doesn't think of you as a father." Cornelia pointed out. "He thinks you're more like an older brother or the crazy uncle that smuggles him contraband, takes him out to strip clubs, and bails him out of jail."

"All things that I've done." Azazel said proudly. "But the point is that he has no friends his age besides you, and I'm hesitant to say, Vali. I made a promise to his parents to watch out for him should they pass, so this is my way of helping. He needs more friends, he needs to learn how to socialize with people in a friendly setting, and most of all he needs to develop meaningful relations that won't result in another notch on his bedpost."

"Nice," Cornelia snarked. "So you're trying to make him open up to people while disguising it as a mission?" Seeing the Governor nod, she sighed. "You know this is probably the most expensive attempt to get someone to open up that I've ever seen. In fact for the amount of money that you're spending to hire us you could've probably funded one of your projects, or hired enough hookers for some bacchanalian orgy."

"Don't make me regret not spending the money differently." Azazel replied, wiping a bit of drool from the corner of his mouth, as thoughts of drunken revelry played in his mind.

"No promises, but I'll do my best. You make a fair point, one that I've thought about before. I won't try to force him into anything but I'll try and encourage his classmates to see beneath his frigid exterior. Because for all the smiles and warmth he showed today, as soon as he's back out in public he'll don his Ice King mask."

"He's a kuudere." Azazel smirked.

"And that's the final straw. I'm going to get in touch with Shemhazai and tell him that you've been slacking off with your paperwork to watch anime."

"You wouldn't." Azazel's demanded, eyes narrowing in disbelief.

"Try me, and I'll have Penemue force more paperwork onto you." She threatened. "He'll be fine." Cornelia reassured, seeing the slight change in the Governor's body. "I'll be there with him as always."

"Thank you." Azazel said, turning away and beginning to create a transportation circle.

"Give my mother my well wishes."

"I will." With that Azazel disappeared back to the Grigori Headquarters.

Cornelia sighed, wiping a hand down her face. "I'm getting too old for this shit."

"How did it go?" Leo asked, his hands firmly massaging her shoulders. She melted at hi touch, leaning against him as he continued to work the knots out of her.

"As well as can be expected." Cornelia said biting back a moan.

"Did you find out what our good governor really wanted?"

"Of course." Cornelia responded, tensing as his hands moved from her shoulders to grip her waist. "He wants you to open up to more people. It's what your parents would've wanted."

"I have the only person that I'll ever need right here." He whispered into her ear, his hot breath sending shivers throughout her body. "It's a shame about the house. I was quite fond of this entire area."

"Yes, it's too bad that those devils had to ruin one of our favorite destinations. Are the charges set?"

"Primed and ready." He smiled, spinning her around to gently peck at her lips.

"Then there's no need for us to stay here any longer." Cornelia said wrapping her arms around him. "Take me away from here my King."

"Gladly, my Queen." They disappeared in an instant, leaving a pristine beach in their wake.

* * *

In the majestic villa a single person remained. He was immaculately dressed, wearing a black dress shirt under a well-tailored maroon suit. An ermine cape hung around his shoulders, his blonde hair was swept back and shoulder length. His delicate and softer aristocratic features were currently grimacing in pain.

Why?

Well it was because he was a devil, specifically Rylan Phenex second son of House Phenex one of the 34 remaining Pillar families of Devil-kind, and he was wrapped in enough chain to subdue a moderately sized dragon. The worst part was that each link had been individually blessed and carved with verses of the Gospel, working to drain his powers, and causing his skin to sizzle. His captors had wrapped him in the enchanted restraints after negotiation had failed, and then threw him into a closet. Granted it was spacious, but a closet nonetheless. When he finally managed to escape from here he would never be able to live it down if any of his siblings found out about it.

However his chance of escape was quickly diminishing, as he cast his sapphire eyes towards the golden box that lay a foot away from him. It was approximately 5 feet long, 3 feet wide and 5 feet tall. The entire box was gold, with pictures of angels and saints smiting devils. On the top were two angels their wings touching as they faced one another. To devil-kind it was one of the worst weapons to encounter.

He couldn't help but feel dread every time he glanced at the box and the slowly decreasing counter. If he failed to escape he knew what would happen, after all he had heard stories from his parents about devils who encountered reproductions of the Ark of The Covenant, he had personally seen the devastation that such weapons wrought when used in the Underworld.

When the counter hit 0 the Ark would let loose a powerful wave of holy energy, strong enough to bring down a Maou. The energy wouldn't damage physical structures, instead it would merge with nature creating a sort holy land that was absolute poison to devils. It was the equivalent of a nuclear bomb, and had been used as area denial weapons to give the Angels beachheads into the Underworld. Entire areas were made uninhabitable; ironically it was the Fallen Angels who had taken over these areas when the Angels pulled back at the end of the war.

Even with his Phenex Regeneration he knew that his chances of survival were basically 0, so he struggled in his chains trying to break free.

00:30

His eyes tripled in size as he tried to flare his power around him to burn away the chains.

00:20

He could feel the chains slowly heating up, not as fast as he liked though.

00:15

The chains on his back began to melt away, as he summoned his wings. Flapping them as strongly as possible he crashed through the roof, only to come hurtling back to the ground, the weight of the chains slowing him down.

00:10

The rest of the chains melted off. He cast one last look at the house, only to feel his eyes begin to burn as the Ark began to let loose a torrent of Holy Energy.

00:05

A magic circle would take too long, so instead he began flying away from the island as fast as he possibly could, all the while praying to the Maous that he would live through this.

00:03

00:02

He crashed into a barrier about 100 meters away from the island. Screaming in terror he beat his fists against the invisible wall. He recognized it in an instant, a ward used to seal one space off from another. Knowing that he would never be able to break it, he began to fly upwards hoping that there was no ceiling.

00:01

He crashed headfirst into a barrier, the impact momentarily stunning him. He fell back his form diving into the water.

00:00

The Ark swirled with Holy Energy, letting loose continuous pulses of energy.

Rylan screamed in pain, as the entire area was saturated with Holy Energy. The sand would burn like he had just touched a holy object, the air unbreathable as if filled with holy incense, and the very water he was submerged in peeled away his skin as it took on all the properties of Holy Water.

Where lesser devils would've succumbed and died within moments, it was only thanks to his regeneration that he was alive. He cursed is bloodline as it forced him to experience the pain over and over again. Slowly his mind grew dull, and with the last of his power he formed a transport circle, to take him home. _I failed you mother, father. Take care of yourself Ravel, big brother won't be able to anymore._

His mind broke from the pain, as his body was whisked away to the Underworld.


	2. Act I: The Meeting

Chapter 2

"This doesn't look like Japan." Cornelia said. They were in a massive square which was ironic as it was actually a circular area with marble pillars framing the perimeter. Directly in front of them was a large standing stone spire surrounded by a fountain. Thankfully their teleportation went unnoticed by the multitude of tourists that were busily taking pictures of the architecture. Across from the fountain was an elaborate building with statues of Jesus and all his apostles that serves as the city's seat of power. "Don't tell me that you got distracted by Great Red again and teleported us to the wrong place."

"Once. That only happened once." Leo sighed. "Yet you seem to always bring it up."

"We ended up in Helheim." Cornelia pointed out.

"Thankfully this was a planned detour. I just need to do something here, and then we'll head to Japan."

"Don't you think all the exorcists patrolling the city would be on alert, since we broke through the ward to get here?"

"There's only one Exorcist that I worry about but he's also the easiest to deal with." Leo reassured, pulling what looked like a coupon book out of his breast pocket. "I trust that you know what to do with this."

"Unfortunately." Cornelia said distastefully. "How that man became the Church's Strongest Exorcist is not something I understand. He seems to always fall for this trick."

"I'll give you a ten minute head start?"

"That's more than enough to pull him away from the Basilica." She walked away, off to find her prey.

"As for me, I need to get to the Altar." Leo muttered pulling a noh mask that looked like a fox out of his dimensional storage area. Putting the mask on, he let the magic wash over him. The mask was one of his most powerful creations and had two abilities, the first cast a powerful illusion projecting one of 13 different people, while the second ability was passive and made people see him as the highest authority in a given place, i.e. if he used it in the White House he'd assume the identity of the President. It was the first function that he wanted now though, as the second ability would no doubt cause him no end of trouble.

To those who carefully watched, his appearance began to change. First his argent hair the front of which framed his face and the back was loosely gathered by a black ribbon and touched his shoulders shortened, taking on a golden what like color. Blue eyes became a dull green, and for the final touches his outfit changed into a priest's black cassock with a carefully embroidered shoulder cape trimmed in red with crosses. _Let's see if I still got it._ He thought to himself, changing his normally ramrod posture to a more relaxed almost lazy like one. To complete the transformation he adopted a lethargic smile, waving at the nearby tourists who hadn't noticed the change. A few even snapped pictures of him as he headed towards the Basilica.

Though he had been here many times before, its splendor never ceased to amaze him. Walking forward he started the baldachin a great canopy of black and gold bronze. Its four spiral pillars were decorated with golden vines and cherubs. The top of the canopy had four gentle upwards curves that came together to form a globus cruciger. At each corner of the main four pillars was an angel their hands extended. Underneath the canopy was a resplendent altar, and in front was a depression.

The basilica had been built on the supposed location of the remains of a saint, his body held in the crypt blow. The area was known as the Confessio, and it was cordoned off with two wings of golden and ornate balustrades.

All around him were spectacular works of arts that looked like paintings but were really mosaics, 4 great medallions decorated the main cupola and the piers below. These medallions represented the four evangelists. The great piers that supported the massive dome were inset allowing for four colossal marble statues. The first was St. Helena holding the True Cross, the second was St. Longinus gripping the sacred lance that pierced Christ's side. The third statute was St. Andrew and the final one was a statue of St. Veronica displaying the veil used to wipe Jesus' face on the road to Cavalry.

Approaching the Lectern, no one paying him any attention in his priest's garb, he placed his hand on a hidden rune cluster. A powerful compulsion spell emanated from the lectern, and he couldn't help but suppress a smirk as all the tourists left leaving not only the Basilica but even the surrounding Square. Another touch and all the doors sealed themselves shut with a resounding thud, as powerful barriers were raised to prevent intrusion.

In the distance he could hear the exorcists banging on the doors, trying to force themselves into the Sanctuary. Turning he moved towards the altar, and after spinning around the immaculate white and gold chair of the Pope to face the golden depiction of Heaven he took a seat. Snapping his fingers the three candles on either side of the altar ignited. "Gabriel." He called his entire body burning with the saturation of Holy energy that calling to her in the Language of Heaven caused.

She appeared in a flutter of golden feathers, her 12 wings spread proudly. A peerless beauty who unlike Aphrodite had a more innocent and worldly look to her. She wasn't an otherworldly beauty whose existence defied nature, Aphrodite and Venus were that type, shifting themselves to fit other's tastes. She had curly blonde hair that shone like the sun and a jaw dropping voluptuous figure that was as close to perfection as he had ever seen. Truly she deserved the title of the Most Beautiful Woman of Heaven. However it wasn't just her beauty that appealed to him, but also her power. He had been in the presence of Gods before, and he had seen the most powerful of beings lazing about, yet still her power was the most intoxicating. The sheer holiness of her unrestrained aura was enough to bring him to his knees if he hadn't been sitting in a chair and hadn't been exposed to it many times before. He had no doubt that any low or even mid-class devils would've died from just being exposed to it.

"Ara." She said looking at him. "You're not Dulio."

"I'm afraid that Dulio is indisposed at the moment." Leo smirked, removing his mask.

"LEO!" Gabriel squealed, diving towards him and wrapping him in an aggressive glomp that rocked his seat back.

He grimaced as she latched on and squeezed him tightly, thankful that he had taken the time to reinforce his body lest he be crushed by her superhuman strength. She was a great person to be around and her naiveté was a definite change from his and Cornelia's pragmatic pessimism, but she had no sense of personal space. Not that he could really complain when his face was currently enveloped in her chest.

 _No. Bad Leo. Bad. Doing anything perverted might make her fall. Then you'll lose a major source of income._ The little imaginary angel on his shoulder said smacking his devil with a harisen, before it could even open its mouth, knocking it off its perch.

 _But if you make her fall, you'll have the respect of every man in the Grigori._ The little devil said struggling to climb back up on his shoulder.

 _Griselda will slaughter you._ His angel warned, and that brought the conversation to an abrupt end. He didn't want to get on the bad side of Griselda again; she fought dirty when she was angry.

"What are you doing here?" Gabriel asked pulling back to sit on his lap and releasing him from marshmallow hell. "We've only just begun testing the new pistols but so far the reception has been overwhelmingly positive. Not that I expected anything less from you."

"Thanks for the compliment." He smiled. "Actually I was wondering what it would cost me for some information."

She frowned. "You know that I won't sell you any information on Heaven or confidential information about the Church."

He chuckled at the response; it was something of a game between them. "No, no, I'm not looking for anything like that today." He promised. "I was wondering if I could get some information on a certain pair of devils as well their peerages."

"Devils?" She asked her eyes narrowing. "Don't tell me that Azazel has you doing another job for him."

"Then I won't." He grinned, shifting her a bit so that her weight was more even distributed across his legs.

"I don't understand why you continue to be a mercenary." Gabriel pouted cutely. "Your skills would be perfect right here."

"I can't." He said sadly. "Besides I'm much in demand no matter the Pantheon, and Cornelia wouldn't be welcomed here anyways."

"Before I ask which devils you want information on I need to know something." He nodded, gesturing for her to continue. "What did you do with Dulio?"

As if on cue, the doors crashed open. The first thing that Gabriel saw was the coupon like book floating through the air. The second thing was the Church's Strongest Exorcist chasing after it frantically waving his arms in an attempt to catch it. In the background she saw Cornelia and her eyes narrowed. The purple haired woman was waving her finger, directing the coupon book just out of Dulio's reach, with a mischievous grin. Griselda the church's strongest female exorcist was torn between chasing after Dulio and glaring at Cornelia who simply hovered in the air.

"FOOD!" Dulio screamed lunging for the coupon book, only for Cornelia to pull back at the last moment. The exorcist face planted into the stone floor with a dull thud, prompting Griselda to hurry to his side.

Gabriel sweatdropped before looking down at Leo, who was the picture of innocence. "Really?"

"He always falls for it, hook, line, and sinker." Leo responded, patting her leg. She got up, allowing him to stand. "I think that's enough Cornelia." He said, his voice traveling the distance of the Basilica.

In the distance she saw the woman nod and lower her arm. The coupon book fell to the floor, as Dulio crawled madly towards it.

"Leopold!" Griselda hissed in recognition.

"Hello Gris." Leo raised his hand, greeting the northern beauty.

"LEO!" Dulio exclaimed, hugging the younger man, crying on his shoulder. "Griselda's been mean again, and hasn't let me out to find food."

"That's because you cause trouble wherever you go." Leo sighed, pushing the older man away. _Another one without any sense of personal space._ "Remember that time we decided to go to France and try the cuisine, only for the restaurant you chose to also be hosting several Vampire Covens as well as an Aristocrat?"

"Or the time you got into a fight with a Pillar Devil because he used hypnotism to take your table at a restaurant." Cornelia added. "Really just about every major confrontation at a restaurant, and believe me I was surprised at the sheer number of reports there were, were all caused by you."

"It's because of you that Gris, who's your watcher, is all grey and old." Leo sneered. In the back of his mind a part of him screamed double kill, as both Dulio and Griselda hung their heads and black clouds floated above them.

Both his arms were smacked by Gabriel and Cornelia. "Be nice, Griselda doesn't look day over 35." Gabriel said innocently, depressing the poor woman even further.

"Griselda is only 28." Cornelia pointed out.

Leo as he had firsthand experience knew better than to interfere when a woman's age was brought up, and Dulio who still had his instincts as a man, kept quiet. The two males began inching away looking at the situation as a lit powder keg. Once far enough Leo placed his hand on the priest's shoulder and whisked them away, just in time to see Griselda go from depressed to furious as a grinning Cornelia sidestepped a sword blow.

"Haaa." Dulio exhaled as the two appeared in one of the many streets of Rome. "That was close."

"No kidding." Leo said, gesturing for the man to follow him. "I don't know how you put up with her."

"Gris isn't normally like that." Dulio explained. "It's only around you and Cornelia that she tends to fly off the handle." He pulled out the coupon book and began skimming through it. "Hehe."

"I can't believe that you fall for that every time." Leo deadpanned.

"Hey what can I say, I'm a gourmet of the highest order." Dulio answered. "By the way where do you even get these?"

"I know a guy, who knows someone who owns someone." Leo said brushing off the situation. The coupon book was really dozens of vouchers that were redeemable at certain restaurants for private tastings complete with wine pairings with the executive chef and sommelier.

"You know you're the best. Anytime you want to talk to Gabriel alone and want me gone, all you need to is give me one of these."

"Should I be worried for Gabriel's safety with how easily bribable you are?"

"Naw, it's cool." Dulio waved his hand dismissively. "She can handle herself. After all she fought against the original four Satans and came away from it alive."

"So dinner while we wait or you just want to laze about?"

"Dinner please."

"Let me just make a call and we'll walk there." Leo pulled out his phone and stepped to the side. 5 minutes later one of the people that owed him a favor was headed to his restaurant, screaming on his own phone for his sous chefs to speed up their prepping. "Come on the walk will be good for us."

They walked for an hour, all the while idly chatting, catching up on what happened since they last saw one another. Along the way Gabriel had managed to calm down Griselda and Cornelia gave him a call asking where he was. After informing them where they were headed the two groups decided to meet up at the restaurant. Arriving at the hotel that housed the restaurant, Leo lead them to the elevator, pulling out a keycard. One swipe later and they were zooming up to the restaurant at incredible speeds.

The elevator slowed and opened its door with a soft ping, revealing an expansive dining room. The floor was black carpet with golden diamonds patterned on the floor, the wooden furniture solid and antique. He enjoyed the entire sophisticated ambiance that the restaurant gave off whether it be from the vermeil plates and cutlery, the Sevres porcelain, the large 19th century Bronze candelabra, the hand-blown glass or even to the art hanging on the wall. Prominently displayed to catch a person's eye was an Aubusson tapestry, but personally he thought it all paled to the majestic view of Rome.

Stepping out they were immediately greeted by the maître d'hôtel who led them out to a candlelit terrace and a rectangular table covered with a white table cloth. He made sure to pull out the chair for Gabriel, seating her on his right while Dulio assisted Cornelia placing her on his left, and Griselda ever impatient decided to just take a seat. Sitting at the head of the table he watched as each person took a look at their menus. To his right was Gabriel and then Griselda, and to his left were Cornelia and Dulio. All was right in the world as he observed the city's nightlife from where he was seated. The Dome of St. Peter's shone against the darkened sky, so close that he could almost touch it.

"This is quite the restaurant." Gabriel started breaking the ice.

"Yes it is." Leo responded proudly. "It's the only restaurant in Rome to have been awarded three Michelin Stars, in addition to numerous awards. The wine cellar alone is home to over 60,000 bottles from 1888 to the present. Or for those that prefer other spirits they have a variety available for after meal imbibing."

A moment later a sommelier appeared to explain the wine pairings that went well with each course. In addition he brought a plate of various cheeses and meats with a chilled bottle of wine. Being the head he was responsible for the appetizers and sent the waiter scurrying off with a simple command to bring them everything. Everyone idly chatted, nibbling at the cheese and meat as they waited for the sumptuous feast to be brought. And what a feast it was.

A group of waiters came to them bringing dishes filled with delicious and gourmet dishes. Gabriel always a sucker for seafood saw four of the six appetizers were seafood and immediately smiled; her hand shot towards a crudo of red shrimp and John Dory on grana Padano cream with a pepper infusion.

Dulio was jealously guarding his duck foie gras on pear cream with walnut and chamomile infusion. His face shifted between bliss and shooting warning looks at Griselda who was occupied with her sweetbreads. Both Cornelia and he had opted for the scampi carpaccio with caviar and chives. A part of him was hesitant to share, but a single look from her promised that he'd be on the couch if he didn't move the plate closer to her. So reluctantly he moved it. He was still picking at the plate, Gabriel having gracefully devoured her crudo in addition to both an amberjack appetizer as well as a tuna one, when the waiter reappeared to take their orders for the first course.

The scene repeated itself twice more, the first course further driving poor Dulio up the wall as the medley of flavors left him wanting more and more. By the time the main course was finished the man was glassy eyes, having cried tears of joy as his taste buds danced in his mouth. Griselda was only slightly better, being a nun she was unused to such fare and it had shown. Gabriel having really no need to eat as she was a divine being ate for pleasure, and company, though she would freely admit to this being one of the best meals that she had. Only Cornelia and he who normally dined in high class restaurants as befitting their status were visually unfazed. _Still a most delicious meal._ He shot towards Cornelia who graced him with a small smile. "Now for dessert."

Iced spheres of pomegranate on gianduia cream and cannelloni filled with salty pine-seed Chantilly cream.

It was the finishing blow as the flavors, the saltiness of the pine seeds mixed with the richness of the cream, combined to deal a one-two combo to Dulio. Griselda had taken a single bite, froze and then begun to eat mechanically as if she were in a trance, only stopping to stare at her plate in disappointment once it was all gone. Once everyone had eaten their desert, a cart was brought forth with various coffees and teas, as well as a selection of fine spirits.

"How was it?" Leo asked, taking a Glencairn glass filled with his favorite single malt Speyside from the waiter.

Dulio shot him a thumbs up, forgoing a drink in order to remember the taste of the meal. Griselda was out of it, having always had a weak tolerance to alcohol, leaving Gabriel, Cornelia and him the only functional members of the party.

"Cornelia told me about your latest job." Gabriel began. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"We have no choice now. Both of us already took payment, and I'd never renege on a deal." Leo said shaking his head.

The seraph shook her head sadly, a stack of paper materializing on the table. "This is all the information that we have on Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri."

"Of the 4 Maous why did we have to get stuck with the two that are uncontrollable Sis-cons?" Cornelia grumbled taking Rias Gremory's file and looking it over.

"Karma, probably." Leo answered looking over Sona Sitri's file. Both had to do nothing more than glance at the page to memorize it, perks of being a magician of the highest order. "Thanks for this, Gabriel."

"It's no problem. You've helped the Church out in a few situations, so it's the least I can do."

"But we were compensated for all those jobs." Leo said.

"Then let's just say that it's to pay for dinner." She smiled, sending a burning sensation though him. Thoughts of the two of them dining alone played in his mind, before he managed to recover and shake his head free.

As much as he wanted to act on the feelings several things stopped him, the first being that she was an angel and would immediately fall. The second reason was that Michael would hunt him down for messing with his baby sister. Now that he thought about it, doing anything that endangered Gabriel would bring him no end of grief and enemies. "Thank you." Leo said crossing his legs and bringing the paperwork up higher so that Gabriel couldn't see his face.

"I'm worried about you." Gabriel said.

He felt his heart wrench. "There's nothing to worry about." Leo reassured. "It's a simple reconnaissance mission. We'll be in and out within a few weeks."

"And it'll be you and Cornelia alone?" Gabriel asked, innocently.

"Of course, she is my partner after all." Leo said. If he had been paying closer attention he would've seen the slight tensing of her muscles and her jaw, the sharpening of her eyes as she turned to Cornelia, and if her wings had been visible they would've darkened slightly, not flickering between black and white but to a more grey white than pure.

Cornelia shot her a victorious look, her eyes shifting to Leo. _He's mine._ The look said. "When you finish your job, come back okay. I should have some more feedback on the weapons you provided." Gabriel said.

"Of course. I always enjoy coming here for a visit. The works of Michelangelo have always fascinated me the Dome of the Basilica and The Last Judgment are some of my favorites."

"Please don't break into the Vatican again." Gabriel sweatdropped. "Last time you were found in the Sala Regia and Cappella Paolina you almost had to fight your way out."

"No promises." Leo said relaxing into his chair as he took a sip of his scotch. "When I see something as beautiful as those works I feel almost compelled to make them mine."

She fidgeted in her seat at the double meaning of his words, an action copied by Cornelia whose face was slightly flush. "I know." Gabriel exclaimed. "Next time you're here why don't I take you on an all-inclusive tour. You'll be able to see everything and I'll be able to talk about some of our lesser known works."

"Really?" Leo asked eyes gleaming in excitement.

She nodded. "I was there when they laid the first brick that would become the foundations of the Vatican. I watched as every great artist took their first brush stroke, as every carver took chisel and hammer to stone. It became somewhat of a guilty pleasure for me to skip through time to watch all the artists as they worked."

"That must've been amazing." Leo commented. "To have seen the greatest artist at work."

"It…was." Gabriel said after a moment's hesitation, "but lonely as well."

Both quieted down as they processed the information. "Be careful there okay."

"Of course. When have I ever not been?" Leo said. She stayed silent. "Though if it's not too much trouble…"

"What is it? What do you need?" Gabriel all but demanded lunging forward so that their faces were inches apart.

"I was wondering if I could borrow Secace for a bit." He asked sheepishly.

"Secace?" She asked, blinking owlishly for a moment. "Why would you want that lance?"

"Because I doubt you'd be able to get the Church to part with one of their Excalibur fragments." Leo grumbled.

"You already have Carnwennan why would you want a fragment of Excalibur."

"Mostly to study, I'm quite interested in Mimic which I believe is one of the strongest fragments. I learned a lot already from that time I was able to experiment with Ascalon. It's thanks to that research that I was able to begin to comprehend anti-dragon properties. Vali definitely learned that lesson when I shot her with a 1000 grain bullet enhanced with anti-dragon abilities and imbued with the concept of Piercing. She certainly wasn't smiling when I was digging lead out of her. My next step would be able to add light and then Holy to the bullet, but sadly there's only so much space."

"Have you made any progress in creating Holy Swords?" Gabriel wondered.

"Not much. The swords are little better than the mass produced swords of the Light that exorcists use, though like the pistols that you purchased from me are equipped with an runic seal to draw in wild magic and convert it to light. That way they don't need to be recharged by angels or blessings. If anything I would rate those swords a little below the level of Blade Blacksmith."

"But it's still vastly inferior to the sacred gear." Gabriel said, not a question but a statement.

"Correct." Leo nodded. "Blade blacksmith allows a person to create any holy sword according to their imagination and in a fraction of the time that it would take for me to create a holy sword. Even Azazel with his sacred gear fetish is nowhere near being able to replicate the abilities of those sacred gears. His so called 'artificial sacred gears' are nothing more than disposable gears good for a use or two before they fail."

"You seem to know quite a bit about the ongoing research of the Grigori."

"Of course." Leo scoffed. "The Healing rings that I created were cutting edge when they first came out, capable of healing just about any wound slowly. But once I got my hands on the Grigori's research into Twilight Healing I was able to upgrade my Healing rings, imbuing them not only with the concept of Restoration but also Fortifying. Over time the ring will give the person a natural defense to whatever hurts them. One day I hope to be able to create items capable of warding off sickness."

"To sell for a profit no doubt." Gabriel sighed sadly.

"We'll have to agree to disagree when it comes to me selling my wares."

"As for your request to borrow Secace I'll talk to my brother and see what he's willing to trade in exchange for a few hours with the lance."

"Tell him I'm more than willing to part with anti-dragon weapons, seeing as those are what I can create easily and am experienced in their use as well as any of my holy swords, except for Carnwennan."

"What about the Harp?" Gabriel asked.

He winced. The Harp of David was one of his most useful items, having been used as inspiration to create the Healing Rings, and he still hadn't managed to reverse engineer the Songs that it was capable of producing. "Unless he's willing to let me study the Excaliburs in depth, the Harp isn't on the table."

"A shame." Gabriel said. "Not even exchange for my Horn?"

"Don't joke around like that." Leo warned, a dangerous glint in his eye. "Michael would never let you part with it, and the Church would hunt me down if they knew that I had it in my possession."

"But would you trade for it?"

"In a heartbeat." Leo replied without any hesitation.

Gabriel nodded to herself for several seconds before grabbing his wrist. His flesh began to burn and sizzle, as he opened his mouth in a silent scream. Cornelia was at his side trying to pull the angel off him to no avail; even if she was powerful she still wasn't at the level of a seraph.

A minute passed and Gabriel let go. Biting back a curse he looked down and saw what looked like an ancient horn seared into his flesh. "What is this?" He hissed, touching the sensitive skin. His own enhanced healing began to come into effect, working to repair the damage.

"You know how magicians make contracts with devils for power, knowledge, and goods from the Underworld." She tested. He nodded, while he himself didn't have a contract it was by choice. Heaven knows that he had dozens of requests come in daily. "Well this is similar. It's a contract with me. You'll be able to use it to call to me and like my Horn you'll be able to compel the truth out of people." _Not to mention that it'll allow me to find you no matter the protections surrounding you._ She thought.

"Cool." He responded, the pain already forgotten as he thought about all the useful benefits that their partnership would yield. It was certainly better than making a deal with a Devil as they were liable to stab you in the back. "Does this mean that I can have access to some of the grimoires in Heaven's possession?"

"Maybe." She teased, ignoring the dark look that Cornelia was shooting her. "We'll see how things go." She looked out at the night sky. "I think I should go back now. I've been away from my desk for too long, the paperwork has surely begun to pile up once more."

"Paperwork?" He chuckled, raising a brow in amusement.

"The bane of any organization even Heaven cannot escape its might." She moaned, moving closer to the edge of the terrace. "Don't forget when you're done with your latest job, to come back here. Just touch the symbol on your wrist and I'll do my best to meet you within a few minutes." Jumping up on the railing she cast one last look at the two exorcists that had accompanied her. "I trust that you'll be able to return them to the Vatican."

"Of course, and because it's you asking I won't even take humiliating/embarrassing pictures of them or draw on their faces." He beamed.

"Bye Leo." She smiled spreading her wings. "Cornelia."

"Gabriel." His partner responded curtly. The seraph disappeared in a burst of light, leaving them to return the two exorcists.

"Dulio you mobile?" He probed. He got a jerky so-so motion from the priest.

"Griselda is passed out." Cornelia said poking the nun. "I'll take her to her dorm."

Walking over to Dulio he threw him over his shoulder in a firemen's carry. "Do you need portal?"

Cornelia shook her head, as she picked up Griselda with ease, turning on her heel she disappeared in a flash.

"You've got to lose some weight." Leo complained, a magic sequence tracing itself around his legs. He took a single step forward and space folded in on itself so that with a single move he was in front of the Exorcist barracks.

Dumping the man on the first open bed he resisted the urge to do something embarrassing, opting to simply teleport out before he gave into temptation. Arriving at their hotel room he was unsurprised to see Cornelia already there.

"Leo." She purred, walking towards him, her pantsuit fading away to be replaced by a negligee that left little to imagination.

"Yes, my love?" He said placing his hands around her waist.

"What did you think you were doing with that heavenly feather duster?"

"Talking." He answered.

"It looked more like flirting to me." She whispered darkly, sending shivers down his spine.

"You have nothing to worry about." He reassured.

"I'm not worried." She snapped, before relaxing into his embrace. "So long as I'm always number one in your heart, I don't care who else you might take to our bed."

"Your mother is such a bad influence." He remarked.

She chuckled, "it's not her fault that harems are so common in the supernatural world."

"The downfalls of such a long life, it gets boring to have the same partner for a thousand years."

"We have all that time together. Take me."

He grinned pushing her towards the bed, creating a barrier with practiced ease.


	3. Act I: New Town, New School

Chapter 3

Author's Note: I decided to try and add Japanese honorifics where applicable. However it has been many years since I studied Japanese so if I made a mistake please feel free to shoot me a PM telling me what I did wrong. Or if you want me to drop the honorifics all together. The reason that this hasn't come up in earlier chapters is because Cornelia and Leo were not in Japan and Japanese is not their native language so they didn't bother adding any honorifics, and also because they're so close they forgo it with each other.

* * *

Waking up the next day tired and sore but blissfully happy Leo headed towards the kitchens. Cornelia had the hunger of a succubus and he made it a point to make sure that she was always the first one to fall asleep sated. The morning after their romp, he did what he always did; preparing a massive feast that would be needed for him to regain all the strength and energy he had used the previous night.

Multi-egg omelets, toast with various jams and jellies, bacon, sausage cheese and pots of coffee and tea were laid out on the table just in time for Cornelia to descend from the room. She was au naturale and absolutely glowing, a smile on her face as they tucked into the meal.

"We need to be in Kuoh later today to take care of our transfer paperwork." He said sipping his coffee.

"Don't you remember the 8 hour time difference?" She asked with a raised brow. "We need to leave in a few minutes in order to make it on time. Japanese schools let out at 3 and we need to be there."

"I forgot about that." He answered getting up to prepare himself for the intercontinental travel. "Is all you stuff packed?"

She waved a hand over her head, donning the same maroon clothes that she had worn yesterday. Of course it wasn't the same set, but one of the dozen or so that she had. "Everything that I need is ready, and I left a message with the front desk to make sure to keep the room ready in case we need it again."

"Excellent." Then wrapping an arm around her he placed a chaste kiss on her lips. "What would I ever do without you?"

"Probably be stuck floating around the Dimensional Gap, lost with only Great Red for company, after an accidental teleportation."

"You know me so well." He grinned. "How much time do we have before we have to teleport?"

"Half an hour, why?"

"Because I plan on taking advantage of the time we have together. You know that once we make our public appearance at Kuoh we're going to be absolutely swarmed by people. You for your peerless beauty and me because well it's me."

"You ass." She swatted his arm. "You're lucky that modesty isn't what drew me to you."

"No it's everything else." He growled, burying his face into her neck and gently biting her.

Yipping in surprise she knocked them over, her on top straddling his waist as she pinned his arms above her head. "What are you going to do now?" She smirked, moving so that she was just outside of range of his kisses.

"You tease." He grumbled, seeing the devilish smile on her face.

"You love me for it." Their lips met in the middle, a passionate kiss that they knew that they wouldn't be able to share in public once they reached Japan.

They both wore masks for a reason, and they'd be donning them once more.

For now though they basked in each other's presence, feeding off and bolstering each other's strength. It was the simple things that showed each other how much they cared; the gentle embrace of Leo as he softly stroked her silken hair, Cornelia relaxing in his embrace her breath slowing as she listened to his heart.

"We need to go." Cornelia said sadly, getting up and holding out her hand.

He took it and wrapped his arm around her waist, holding her tightly. "Do you have the address that Azazel provided?"

She nodded, and he looked her in the eyes. Carefully extending a mental probe he shivered as her alien mind met his and he attained the knowledge needed to teleport them properly. A magic circle appeared beneath them, runes glowing with arcane might as he calculated everything from altitude differential, distance, the speed need to arrive in an instant, spells necessary to prevent the massive damage that reduce them to a pancake that came with inertia. All the information flooded his brain and it was only after practice and being able to access the entire accumulated knowledge of his mother and her family that he was able to teleport with pinpoint accuracy.

In a flash they traveled almost 10,000 kilometers that separated them from Azazel's house. Well house was an understatement as the entire thing was larger than some of the castles that he had seen in his time. How the man could have such a base in the middle of the Shinto Pantheon he didn't know, and it was only through the use of copious amounts of redirection wards that no one questioned why he didn't have neighbors and why no one paid taxes for the property. Even though he knew the truth of the matter he still had trouble believing that the massive property didn't arouse suspicion.

Rather than a Japanese mansion it was based on an American one specifically the Hearst Castle, albeit on a smaller scale. There was no way around it, it was simply too large for two people, thankfully though they had dozens of servants and familiars who took care of the mansion.

They arrived in the main living area and immediately went in search of Azazel's office where they were sure to find more information for their mission. The office was one you'd expect to see in a stereotypical rich house. The walls had ebony book cases pushed against them and about 12 feet high. There was a single fireplace to the side with a decorative mantle. A large ebony desk dominated the room and in front of it were two hard backed chairs, strategically placed for maximum psychological discomfort. To aid this the room was slightly sloped that a person who was sitting in the hard backed chairs would have to look up slightly to see the person behind the desk. It was all for intimidation purposes but he doubted it would work on any powerful supernatural creature.

"Take a look at this." Cornelia snorted pointing to a picture above the mantelpiece.

He couldn't help but laugh at the life size painting Azazel had commissioned of him posing heroically. With a wave of his hand the picture shifted to him being crushed under a female Fallen's heel. The woman radiated sexuality and power, her clothes though not as revealing as many of her Fallen brethren was skintight. Looking at her made one think of the darker aspects of pleasure and sex, the domination and submission, the mind numbing pleasure that made men and women putty in her hands. She had long dark purple hair, and a smirk as she sneered down at Azazel. A part of him had to resist the urge to kneel before the Fallen woman and call her mistress. This seductive woman that wouldn't have been out of place in a man's dreams wasn't in fact fictional, but the most powerful female Fallen of the Grigori, Penemue.

"Really?" Cornelia asked.

"I wouldn't put it past her to have done this before." Leo drawled, flicking his fingers a few more times to get the proportions right, and to make sure he got the look of devotion and submission just right on Azazel's face.

"I don't want to hear anything about her sex life or perverse fantasies you may have for her." Cornelia warned, gripping his ear painfully.

He smiled wincing at the pain. Penemue and her were close. Very close, and it disgusted her to imagine the woman as anything but the serious secretary that she acted like now. "We really should look around to see if Azazel left anything for us."

"No need." She said letting go of his ear and taking a folder off the desk. "Standard map of the area with hotspots marked down. The academy is a devil stronghold and the entire town is under their jurisdiction. He took the liberty of preparing uniforms for us, they're in our room, and submitting most of the paperwork."

"Did he leave profiles on the Grigori members that he assigned in town, as well as one on the target?"

She slid him over another folder. "Mittelt, Dohnaseek, Kalawarner, Raynare, were assigned to Hyoudou Issei to determine if he has a sacred gear that can be used. Orders are to observe and not to make contact unless he awakens the gear or he is approached by another faction."

"They were supposed to keep a low profile and not cause any trouble for the devils in the area." Leo read. "Hyoudou Issei, 17 years old 2nd year student at Kuoh Academy. Documented pervert with a lust that would make Asmodeus proud. Self-declared Harem King. Never had a girlfriend."

"He looks like an idiot." Cornelia said looking at the photo that came with the dossier. "Suspected gear, Mid-tier Longinus Boosted Gear?"

They both froze, rubbing their eyes to make sure that they weren't playing tricks on them. Looking again and seeing that the words didn't change, they both swore. "Shit."

"I'll contact Azazel and make sure that this information is correct." Cornelia said hurriedly pulling her phone out of her pocket.

"Make sure that the orders are observe and report, not eliminate." Leo said rubbing his temples in an attempt to calm the headache that was beginning to form. "I'm going to get in touch with Vali, ask her if she can be ready to intercede should the Boosted Gear awaken in a berserk state."

Pulling out his phone he sent the White Dragon Emperor a text telling her that they had located her rival and asking her to be ready in case the gear awakened and Hyoudou was unable to control Ddraig. He didn't expect a response from her right away as she would normally be on a mission or training but she should get his message shortly.

"Azazel said that the orders are correct. Observe and report. Eliminate if the host is unable to control."

Sighing Leo waved his hand, pulling out a decorative rosewood box. Inside was a hand crafted pistol modeled after the Thompson Center Encore. The entire thing was crafted from Uru metal, which he had to trade from the dwarves of Nidavellir, making it almost indestructible. He had chosen to use Uru instead of modern steel because Uru absorbed magic like a sponge, and he had carved hundreds of runes into the metal in order to allow it to fire the massive .700 NE cartridge. Recoil dampening, noise cancellation, runes to increase the metal's already legendary strength to prevent warping. The bullets it fired had to have the brass casings reinforced with magic as he hand loaded them quite hot. The bullets themselves were imbued with the concept of piercing allowing it to punch through any and all defenses, as well as anti-dragon. Vali certainly hadn't been laughing when he had shot her with one of these. Hopefully since it was able to make mincemeat of her scale mail it would be effective against a berserk Red Dragon Emperor.

If this didn't work, he could always fall back on the 20mm, but he really didn't want to fire that beast again.

Opening the action he selected a single bullet and looked it over carefully. His and Cornelia's life hung in the balance, so he would take the time to check the runes to make sure that whatever it hit wouldn't be getting up anytime soon after. Satisfied he loaded it into the pistol and closed the action, but didn't lower the hammer so that it was still safe.

Another wave of his hand and the entire thing disappeared, safe in his dimensional storage. "Let's head to Kuoh."

"Shouldn't we change?" She asked.

"No point, we're not students yet, and besides classes have already been let out for the day. Do you have your translation necklace?"

"Yup." Cornelia answered fishing a necklace with a single canine tooth on the end. The tooth had been taken from a Devil who had the gift of tongues and after a bit of manipulation allowed the wearer to speak any language.

"Do you think that Azazel left his car here?" Cornelia asked.

"Knowing him it's been gathering dust in the garage." Leo scoffed. This proved to be true when they turned on the light and saw a flashy metallic blue Mercedes SLS AMG Black series coupe covered in dust. "Heresy." Leo hissed running for the car, heartbroken at the lack of care that the Fallen Angel showed the vehicle. A quick spell later and the car was restored looking like it had just come from the factory.

"Do you even have license to drive in Japan?" Cornelia asked as the gull doors opened.

"We're magicians Lia." He answered shivering as the super car started up. "We don't need licenses."

She swore, reaching for the seatbelt, as he cackled madly gunning the engine. The car took off like a rocket, the G force shoving them against their seats. She should've never let Azazel, a cadre with inhuman reflexes who regularly ignored the speed limit, teach him how to drive. Leo relying on instinct, magic, and a lot of luck managed to avoid a fatal accident. The few times that a police officer tried to stop them he simply waved his hand without ever slowing down, casting a spell to make them forget ever seeing him.

Seeing Kuoh Academy's main gates he kicked the clutch into a power slide and ended up skidding to a perfect stop. "I hate you." Cornelia snarled, fixing her hair and clothes, her enhanced healing already healing the cuts in her palm from where she had clenched her fists too tightly as well as her slightly green complexion.

He shrugged, a smile plastered on his face. Nothing she could do would be able to remove it for a while. Fixing his expression into one of neutrality borderline apathy he opened the door and saw the crowd that had gathered around them. First off few people drove a car with an 8 digit price tag, secondly few students drove at all since the age to get a license was 18 and public transportation was good, and lastly no normal human drove like he did. The students of the academy had heard the roaring engine and rushed out to see what was making the noise.

The gull doors rose up, and he and Cornelia stepped out in sync. The male population instantly began to drool in her presence, before she fixed them with a stern glare that made them want to call her Queen. The female population was better as they stared at Leo like a lion would a wounded gazelle. _Not that I can blame them._ Cornelia thought to herself seeing the other women gazing at her lover. Leo was taller than just about everyone there, standing at just over 6 feet. He had shaggy silver hair gathered in a loose and low ponytail. His eyes were a cold blue, frostier than the tundras of the Jotunheim and if you looked into them for long enough you'd find yourself mesmerized. He was dressed in a finely made double breasted black jacket with silver trimming, black pants and polished black brogue shoes. Underneath the jacket he was wearing a grey vest, a white shirt and finally a blue cravat with thin gold running through it. He looked like the stereotypical noble, which he was raised as.

"What's going on here?" A voice asked. They both turned to see two young women approaching them, the crowd parting as they moved. The first and short of the duo was a young bespectacled woman with a slim figure. Her black hair was styled in a short bob cut and she had violet eyes. The taller of the two, and trailing three steps behind and to the right was another young woman with glasses. This one had long and straight black hair that fell to her knees. Her split bangs revealed heterochromatic eyes, the left being violet and the right being a light brown. Sona Sitri, high-class devil, and her Queen, Tsubaki Shinra.

"Everyone go back to your clubs." She commanded, dispersing the crowd though quite a few moved slowly to either ogle the pair of magicians, their car, or the two devils. "Who are you?" She demanded without any prelude.

"Leopold Aurelianus." Leo said curtly.

"Cornelia Hjördís." Cornelia answered, though nowhere near as coldly as Leo had. "We're transfer students from Germany. Our guardian told us to finish the paperwork."

"Aurelianus-san and Hjördís-san." Sona said thinking for a moment before nodding. "I remember seeing your paperwork, on my desk."

"On your desk?" Cornelia asked playing along.

Sona nodded. "I'm the Student Council President so such things pass through me so that I can assign people to help ease your transition into our school."

Just as she finished they heard yelling, and it took all their control not to instinctively drop into combat stances and summon their weapons. Turning they saw three boys being chased by a mob of girls wielding shinais and bokken in a lethal fashion. The girls quickly caught up with the boys and began to beat them with their weapons mercilessly.

"Is this common?" Leo asked, raising a brow at the scene.

"Unfortunately yes." Sona sighed. "Those three are unrepentant perverts who seem never to learn their lesson."

"I see." Leo glared at the three boys who were being beaten. Their cries were instantly silenced as they felt death closing in on them.

"Aurelianus-san I need to ask if you have a license." Tsubaki questioned.

Cornelia glared at him for a moment, wondering if they would have to resort to magic in order to mess with the Devil's minds. That was risky as they were naturally resistant to mental magics. "Of course." Leo answered opening his wallet and pulling out a perfectly valid license for Japan.

"Thank you." Tsubaki said, looking it over. "However before you come with us to finish the paperwork I'm going to need to ask you to move your car. The student parking lot is over there."

He nodded and after driving and parking the car walked back to meet the group. "Excellent."

They were led through the school to an office with several other students. "This is the rest of the Student Council." Tsubaki explained.

"Everyone, introduce yourselves." Sona commanded.

"Hai!" They responded

"Hi, my name is Momo Hanakai." A white haired girl introduced herself. _Sona's bishop._

"Reya Kusaka." The girl was soft spoken and slim, her long brown hair ending in two short braids. Her eyes matched her hair and she wore a blue headband. _There's the other bishop._

"Hi." One of the remaining girls greeted happily, jumping to her feet. She had shoulder length, reddish-brown hair and brown eyes. A single strand stuck out the top. "I'm Tomoe, Tomoe Meguri." The girl bowed, reminding him of a hyperactive squirrel. _That's Sona's only knight_

"I'm Tsubasa Yura." Tsubasa was a tall girl with blue shoulder length hair and matching eyes. She looked like a tomboy. _Rook._

"Ruruko Nimura." The last girl of the group greeted politely. Ruruko had brown hair which she kept in two ponytails and green eyes. _Pawn_

"Saji Genshirou." The only male of the group greeted coolly. He had short blonde hair and grey eyes and wore the standard boy's uniform minus the blazer which hung from his chair. _Pawn_

After their introductions were done, Leo and Cornelia introduced themselves. "We're transfer students."

"Really?" Tomoe asked, bouncing on her feet. "Where are you from?"

"All over." Leo answered. "Though we were born in Germany."

"Are you two siblings?" Ruruko inquired.

Cornelia shook her head. "Our parents were friends, and we grew up together."

"Here you go." Sona said, handing them a pile of papers each. "Sign and date please."

They took the paperwork to the side and began going through it. It was a standard contract outlining the goals of the school and what they expected from each student. It also warned of the different disciplinary actions that the teachers could issue and general warnings. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary Cornelia pulled out a fountain pen and signed her name on the line, before handing the pen to Leo, who also signed. "Done." He said, allowing for the ink to dry before handing the paperwork back to Sona.

"Good, then we'll see you tomorrow." Sona said. "Please arrive early so that we can help you get settled in and find your classes. Nodding to her they left the Academy, Cornelia having to suffer through another of his insane car rides.

* * *

"So what do you think?" Sona asked her assembled peerage.

"Aurelianus-san has a sacred gear." Momo and Reya said at the same time."

"I thought so." Sona said looking over the two records that the transfer students had submitted. "Everything about their background is too clean, and precise."

"What about the girl?" Ruruko wondered. "Something about her had me on edge."

"She's not human." Tsubaki answered. "Nor is she a spirit, at least not one that I've heard about."

"She wasn't anything like the ones my family deals with either." Tomoe offered.

"Shouldn't we confront them? I mean this is Kaichou's territory." Saji said.

Sona shook her head, thinking more about the situation. Something about Aurelianus-san struck her as familiar, like she had seen his picture before. "For now we need to gather information. Aurelianus-san has a sacred gear, and we don't know which one it is. The last thing we need is to get into a confrontation with him only to find out that the gear he has happens to be a Longinus. Momo, Reya I want you to coordinate your familiars to track and follow him discretely."

"Hai, Kaichou." The two bishops confirmed.

"Saji, Ruruko, Tomoe, Tsubasa, the two of them are going to be in Year 2 with you. See if you can get close to them."

"Aren't they a bit old to be with us?" Tsubasa asked.

"They're both 18, they missed the cutoff with how late their birthdays fell so they are the oldest in their grade." Tsubaki replied.

"Kaichou." Reya spoke up. "I think Aurelianus-san is a magician."

"What makes you think that?" Sona asked curiously. She rarely had contact with magicians as she didn't have a contract with one.

"His aura, it's similar to some of the magicians I met before you reincarnated me."

"Then you need to be discrete with your surveillance." Sona said. "We need to find out what they're doing here. You have your assignments, I'll inform Rias and the OCR about our new guests tomorrow.

* * *

Leo and Cornelia had returned home with no trouble, and after a quick meal they retired for the night. Leo was currently staring up at the ceiling in one of the guest rooms, alone as punishment for his driving.

Tomorrow would be the first day that he actually attended school in a long time, almost 7 years. He had kept up with his studies at home, as he no longer had time to really sit in a classroom for 8 hours a day and hear a teacher lecture. Now though the job required him to interact with people his own age, something that he was loath to do. He didn't like how most of the girls stared at him like a piece of meat, and he especially didn't like how the boys were looking at Cornelia. Odds were that he'd have to kneecap someone before the message sunk in. He wouldn't tolerate anyone trying to touch Cornelia, and kneecapping would save them from whatever horror that she decided to inflict.

Buried deep within him though was a part that feared rejection. How would he cope with people his own age when every single one of his friends with the exception of Cornelia had lived at least a century? Nervous and unable to really sleep without Cornelia's comforting warmth he got up and from his pocket dimension drew a large brass key. Spinning around he hesitated, before finally getting out of bed and approaching the closet door.

There was no keyhole for the closet but that didn't matter, all that mattered was that it served as a metaphorical threshold. Placing the tip of the key against the wood he turned, and after a few seconds opened the closet door. Instead of a walk-in closet filled with clothes it instead lead into a comfortable and warm den. It was a simple room with all the comforts that he needed when he was working and designing his merchandise. The room was circular, the walls lined with hundreds of books from ancient manuscripts to modern fairytales and fantasy novels. You wouldn't believe the amount of times that he had gotten inspired to make something after reading about it in a fantasy book. Most of his personal projects began with the words "wouldn't it be cool if…"

There was a large desk with dozens of pieces of paper spread across it, each one holding sketches and ideas for future products; however it was the chair that he was most proud of. There was no mortal product that even compared to it, which was not a boast when it had Hephaestus' seal of approval branded into the leather. Hundreds of different comforting charms, cooling charms, heating charms made sure it was always the perfect temperature and comfort. Collapsing into it he let loose a groan as his back popped and the support charms kicked in akin to lumbar support. It was the most perfect and ergonomic chair in this dimension, and if someone outdid him he'd get on his knees and call them master. The chair had to be comfortable as sometimes he spent in excess of 24 hours in it.

To pass the time and hopefully fall asleep he began shuffling around some papers, noting how his businesses and investments were doing. A self updating ledger showed what his current stores were of supplies in his workshop. Idly he noted that he would need to buy more components to make his special blend of gunpowder. Another ledger monitored the fluctuating prices of metals, and after checking the price wrote a bank draft. The money would be enough to purchase a ton of zinc and a ton of copper both of which were needed to form new casings for his bullets.

Satisfied that his supplies wouldn't be running low anytime soon, he picked up a catalogue that the Abyss Auction had sent him. The Abyss auction was THE place to buy and sell anything. The people that ran it had no morals and he had even seen slaves for sale. He enjoyed flipping through the catalogue, never questioning how such a thin publication could have so many pages, simply chalking it up to the wonders of magic. Looking over the list of grimoires that were currently on sale, he felt his jaw drop. Someone was actually selling one of the original copies of Ars Goetia in the ancient language, not one of those cheap translations. Without a moment of hesitation he circled the listing for the grimoire, ripped the page out of the book and ignited it, signaling his willingness to purchase the item. 10 minutes later and several million lighter he was giggling as stared at the cover of the incredibly rare grimoire. He hadn't even bothered to haggle with the buyer, simply throwing his money at the shady dealer before whisking the book away from him.

Taking a calming breath he pushed the grimoire to the side, intent on studying it another time, and went back to the catalogue. Turning to the gem and metal section he saw Mithril at the top for sale. _Must not impulse buy._ He thought to himself, staring at the slashed prices that the rare metal was going for. He had never worked with the metal before, but from what he had heard through the grapevine it was an absolute pleasure and nightmare to work with. Heating the metal took powerful flames on the level of Amaterasu's or several dragons working together, and once you melted it down you had to keep the temperature up else it would cool, harden and be impossible to work with again.

Tearing his eyes away he saw that Uru was being offered by the dwarves of Nidavellir once again. He had some Imperial Gold, the material that the Romans Gods used to forge their weapons, and wondered if they would be willing to trade for it. He had no use for it as no matter what he did the blades never seemed to hold their edge, maybe the weapon was not made from pure Imperial Gold but an alloy? That would explain how it would be able to harm not only the physical body but the spiritual one as well.

Still though I should see how much Uru they're willing to part with. It would be the perfect present for Cornelia as she had wanted to experiment and make a golem out of it. He shuddered at the thought of an entire golem made out of Uru, the damn thing would be virtually unstoppable. The only way that he could think of beating it was by locking it in a dimensional pocket then throwing that item into a star. Penning a letter to Njall Vidarr, the dwarf who handled Nidavellir's mercantile business, he sent his proposal.

By this point he was beginning to feel tired, but he had one last thing to look for. Opening the accessories part he smiled as he saw his rings basic healing rings being sold. So many people wanted them, as they were less expensive than phoenix tears, and did the same thing albeit at a slower pace. He couldn't make them fast enough and he was backordered for three months. The Phenex Clan must really hate him.

Closing his eyes he relaxed in his chair, feeling sleep take hold of him.

* * *

He woke up early the same as always, and left his workshop. Thankfully he didn't need to cook as there were maids who took care of those things, so he went to wake up Cornelia.

Normally they were both heavy sleepers, especially after a night together, but for once he found her already awake and changed when he got to her room.

"You're late." She teased, gently kissing him. Seeing his raised brow in confusion, she pointed to the clock mounted on the wall. She was right, he hadn't woken up early as he had thought. _Probably forgot to change the workshop clock's batteries._ He thought. "Get dressed we need to leave soon."

Donning the male uniform which wasn't much different than what he normally wore, he met up with Cornelia in the dining hall where she was nibbling on a piece of toast. Helping himself to a few breakfast pastries, he pulled her to her feet, and said, "ready?"

She nodded, swallowing the toast. "Got your lunch money?"

"No I was just planning on taking it from an underclassman." Leo said sarcastically, magic wrapping around his legs. She had forbid him from driving when she was in the car so they were forced to teleport to a nearby alley.

"I believe the correct term is kohai." She pointed out, holding him tightly. The last thing she needed was to lose a part of herself in the transfer. "And don't do that, picking on one of them is beneath you."

"Whatever you say love." Leo said whisking them away. From the alley that they appeared Kuoh was only a short walk away. "Are you ready for this?" He asked hesitantly, hoping that she wouldn't recognize the nervousness in his voice.

"I think so." She answered after a slight pause. She was nervous as well, though she did a better job of masking it. "Just treat this like that assassination we did a couple of years ago."

"The one where we had to act as proper nobles and move around high society?"

"That's the one." She whispered. "Just act casually, relaxed, and for god's sake don't shoot any of them."

"The same can be said about you." He countered, hearing the nervousness in her voice. "Whatever you do, don't stab anyone."

"I guess this is a bad time to tell you that I don't know how to act casually around people our age."

"Neither do I." Cornelia confessed.

The entered the Academy's gates, their presence making the other students stop and gawk at them. Cornelia smiled shyly at those who were looking at her, while Leo kept his face impassive, already hating all the attention he was getting.

Stick him in a life or death situation and he'd be cool as a cucumber, but here? He was out of his comfort zone and was inwardly cursing Azazel and himself for taking this job. _Remember. Calm. Cool. Collected. Don't let your emotions dictate your actions._ He chanted to himself.

His will was severely tested when the wind blew through his hair, and several girls went "Kyah!" in dreamy voices. He walked with all the poise of a noble, allowing his presence to fill the surroundings as he projected himself with an air of confidence and control.

Cornelia after her minor slip up donned her mask and matched him in presence. Her natural grace emphasized by the Kuoh female uniform as she looked and acted like the pure-blooded noble heiress that she was pretending to be. They entered the school, ignoring the crowd that had formed behind them, as they retraced their steps from yesterday to arrive at the Student Council Room.

Knocking on the door, they heard Sone say, "enter."

Sliding the partition open they walked in. "Good morning Kaichou." Leo said coolly.

"Good morning Hjördís-san, Aurelianus-san." Sona responded, her Queen echoing the greeting. "if you're ready I'll be happy to show you to your classroom."

"Of course. Thank you taking the time to show us personally." Leo said bowing slightly.

"It's no problem." Sona dismissed. "It's part of my duties to ensure that your transition here is smooth."

Saying that the group left the Student Council Room and headed to class.

* * *

For Issei Hyoudou, Kuoh Academy was heaven. Having originally been an all-female school that only became co-ed a few years ago the ratio of girls to boys was terribly skewed. As a second year student he heard rumors that the ratio of girls to boys was 7:3, and for the third years it was 8:2. To the self-proclaimed Harem King this was the perfect place to make his dreams a reality, and it was for that reason alone that he had put his all into studying for the entrance exam and had been accepted into the prestigious school.

However nothing had gone as planned as instead of being surrounded by girls he was an outcast, a member of the Perverted Trio and despised by just about all the female students. There was only one group of guys that the girls paid any attention to, to them he was trash.

Sighing he entered his classroom, and was immediately greeted by one of his only friends, Matsuda. "Hey buddy." Matsuda said wrapping an arm around his shoulder. "How was that DVD I lent you? It was some good stuff, wasn't it?" Matsuda was once a star athlete until he discovered his talent for photography and when coupled with his desire to take pictures of the female body had found himself with the nicknames "Perverted Baldy" and "Sexually Harassing Paparazzi".

"Fu, fu. The wind was strong today, I got the perfect look up our classmates skirts." His other friend, Motohama said, giggling creepily. He had the special ability called Scouter that let him get the numerical values of the girl's measurements through his glasses. His nickname was "Perverted Glasses" and "Three Size Scouter". My evil buddies, and my only two friends.

"I got some good stuff." Matsuda said, opening his bag and pulling out several eroge and magazines.

The girls around us began jeering saying things like, "You guys are the worst-" and "Die, you filthy perverts."

"Shut up!" Matsuda snarled. "These are our treasures. Girls and kids should look away and keep away! Or else I will rape you all inside my head."

"That's the only place you'll be getting any." One of the girls retorted. Matsuda began to cry as reality hit him, and he once again realized that he was the lowest of the low.

"It's okay." Motohama said sliding his friend an eroge. "Hey you know what will cheer you up?"

"What?" Matsuda asked.

Motohama grinned lewdly. "I heard that we're supposed to be getting transfer students, and guess what one of them is a girl."

"Really?" Issei and Matsuda exclaimed standing up and slamming their palms on the desk.

"Yeah, I saw them yesterday when they came to finish their paperwork."

 _Yesterday?_ Issei thought. "Weren't you with us yesterday after school?"

"Yeah it was when we were being chased by the Kendo club." Motohama explained. "They were talking with Sitri-senpai."

Before they could say anything else, the door to the classroom slid open and their teacher walked in. "Good morning class."

"Good morning sensei." They all greeted.

"I'm excited to say that we have two transfer students joining us today." Sensei said. "They've come from far away so please make them feel welcome." Saying that and glaring in particular at the Perverted Trio, he said. "You can come in now."

The first to enter was Cornelia, and on cue the boys began to drool.

"Breast 42. Waist 25. Hip 35." Motohama said lewdly staring at her.

He would've said something else except Cornelia heard him, and her glare was enough to shut him up and cower.

Next came Leo, and he could feel the girl's stare on his skin. No doubt if he peeked in their minds he would see that they were mentally undressing him.

"Damn, another bishounen." Matsuda cursed. Issei agreed, already cursing the boy that would no doubt be more popular than him.

"Why don't you two introduce yourselves?"

Looking at one another, Leo nodded before stepping forward. "Hello everyone, my name is Leopold Aurelianus though you can just call me Leo. Both Cornelia and I are from Germany. In my free time I like to read classics as well as listen to music. I hate perverts."

The girls went wild at that, several of them all but leaping out of their seats to latch onto him, asking him to protect them from the Perverted Trio. When sensei finally managed to calm them down, Cornelia did her own introduction.

"My name is Cornelia Hjördís. I enjoy sword fighting and reading, and like Leo hate perverts."

 _Hypocrite._ Leo thought, making sure to shield his thought lest she pick up on it.

Several girls jumped and began asking her questions, the most prominent one being, "What's your relationship with Aurelianus-san."

"He's my fiancé."

Silence.

"3, 2, 1." Leo muttered.

"Ehh?" Everyone exclaimed including Sensei.

"Explain yourselves." One of the boys asked. Leo glared at him, sending him back to his seat shivering.

"Fiancé, betrothed, to be married we are exactly what she said." Leo said. "Cornelia and I have been engaged for many years."

"Now, now." Sensei said clapping his hands diverting attention to him before anyone else can say anything. "You'll have plenty of time to talk to Aurelianus-san and Hjördís-san during lunch and after school. Remember though not to push for answers when they don't want to talk about something. Hjördís-san why don't you take the seat there by the door, and Aurelianus-san you can sit behind Hyoudou-san."

The two of them took their seats, and spent the rest of the day glancing at one another. By the time the bell for lunch rang the two had disappeared in a flash, papers rustling in their wake as they escaped from their classmates. "That was terrible." Leo panted.

"I don't think I'll be able to sit still and pay attention to sensei's lesson." Cornelia admitted.

"So far this job sucks." He said dejectedly, taking a seat on the roof.

"Yeah. I didn't realize how far ahead we were until we set foot in there."

"No kidding." Leo commented. "Who knew that Azazel would actually take our education seriously enough to have taught us so much?"

"Certainly not me." Cornelia admitted. "Though it's probably Penemue's fault. You know how she can motivate people."

"Unfortunately." Leo deadpanned. "We better hurry back in, hopefully this mission won't take much longer."

They ate their lunch and went back to the classroom just in time for the bell to ring once more.

So the day passed and the final bell rang. "Stand." The Class Representative said. "Bow."

With that done Leo and Cornelia prepared to leave and head home, only to stop short when they recognized a familiar presence.

"You feel that?" He asked.

"Yeah." Cornelia answered. "Thankfully we're masking most of our powers."

They went to the nearest window and saw a young woman with silky black hair and a slender body, cornering Issei Hyoudou. He didn't even have to say anything as Cornelia raised her hand and activated a listening spell.

"Ano." The girl said. "Are you Issei Hyoudou?"

"Yes." Issei said, staring at the girl's breasts, never noticing the dark smirk that flitted across her face.

"Please go out with me."

"That idiot." Leo cursed, wondering how thick the boy could be.

"Shhh." Cornelia shushed.

"Sunday." The girl said turning her back on Hyoudou and walking away merrily.

"A Sunday date." Leo commented.

"Should we make contact with Hyoudou or the Grigori group?" Cornelia asked.

"No, we don't know what the situation is. On Sunday we'll act as shadow their date. This might all just be a ploy by Raynare to get closer to the target so that she can keep a better eye on him. For now we need to head home and familiarize ourselves with the layout of the city, the last thing we need to is to get lost."

The two of them teleported to Azazel's manor, and began to pouring over the maps that the Governor had provided.

 _What are you planning, Raynare? And why isn't Kalawarner stopping you?_ He thought grimly, wondering why his friend wasn't stopping her. Hopefully nothing had happened to her.


	4. Act I: Shadowing

Chapter 4

Author's Note: We're getting closer and closer to the introduction of Rias and her Peerage, and I find myself wondering. Should we have Yuuto Kiba, or Yumi Kiba? Male or Female? And if female who's harem do you want her in?

* * *

The week passed by in a blur, and just like that tomorrow was Sunday. Both Leo and Cornelia had spent the time preparing to shadow the date by memorizing the various maps that Azazel had given them, as well as walking around the city.

They had done their best to plant a listening spell on Issei, but after the first night hearing him 'take care' of himself, they removed it. The same problem happened when they tried to scry him, Cornelia swore that she would kill the boy when she heard him and his friends making plans to peep on the kendo club which she had joined. Attempts to follow him yielded much better results, as they saw him visiting various shops and attractions that primarily catered to couples. They had hit the poor boy with so many tracking charms, that they'd be able to locate him across the globe with pinpoint accuracy.

Right now both mercenaries were in the dining room, peering over a map of the city. Dozens of clay markers were positioned on the map, marking locations that Issei had visited. The markers were color coded by reviews that people online had given them, red being highly recommended and most likely to be used and as such were marked as high priority, yellow as a possibility, medium priority, and finally green as a maybe, and thus low priority. There were also black pieces but these were spread out across the city and were highly unlikely to be used due to being on the outskirts and lack of public transportation to get there.

Tomorrow Cornelia would deploy dozens of humanoid golems to the different sites in order to keep watch should Issei decide to visit them. In addition Leo had lent her his mask, and she would be tailing the boy personally. While this was going on he'd take the high ground, moving from roof to roof ready to intervene should something happen.

What preparations could be done was done that night, as they wanted to go to sleep early and get their 8 hours in. Blades were honed to a fine edge, Leo's pistol and rifle underwent maintenance, enchantments checked over and fixed to maintain their potency, nondescript clothing was laid out for Cornelia, and finally belts of ammunition were prepared.

The next morning the two moved with relaxed ease, this wasn't something new to them, and they were veterans. Cornelia ate some toast, something that had no chance of upsetting her stomach, while Leo dug into simple oatmeal. Nothing ruined a mission like an upset stomach, and being forced to hold it in or possibly lose your target while you were in the bathroom.

Cornelia dressed in a common blouse and jeans, kissed him before donning the mask. Instantly her form shifted, her maroon hair turning blonde and styled in ringlets that touched her shoulders. Her face took on a more angular look, a severe expression that seemed to be stuck in a perpetual frown. Her clothing changed as well turning into a long black skirt, sensible flats, and a white button down shirt.

"Good luck." She said, disappearing in a flash. She had teleported herself several blocks away from Issei just in case Raynare was close enough to sense a teleportation circle. Cornelia was taking no chances of detection and had opted to double up on power suppressants, as she would be in close proximity to the targets. 5 minutes later after doing final checks on his gear he teleported to the roof of a nearby building.

Wrapping his cloak around himself and pulling up the hood he activated the invisibility charm and faded from view. Removing the cover from the rifle's scope he placed the bipod against the edge of the roof, and activated his earpiece. "Overlord-actual to Shadow-one. Comm check. 1, 2. Repeat. Comm check. 1, 2."

"Shadow-one to Overlord-actual. Reading you Lima Charlie." Cornelia responded.

"Overlord-actual has eyes on target." Leo said, observing Issei through the lens of his rifle's scope. "Issei Hyoudou, designation HVT, is holding position 10 meters southwest of your current position. Time is now 0837, Yuuma Amano designation Crow-one is set to meet HVT at 1100."

"Shadow-one, moving to café 5 meters west of HVT."

"Understood." Leo answered, his posture never changing as he surveyed the area. He really wished that he had a spotter to help surveil the area, but he didn't so he was stuck sweeping the area in addition to maintaining eyes on target.

They remained like this, Leo was nibbling on some hardtack that he pulled from a pouch as he watched Issei fidget and pace. _What did you expect when you came to the meeting point 3 hours early?_ Leo thought sweeping the area once more. It was now 0945 and the area was quickly filling with people, going about their business in the shopping district.

Cornelia had settled in at the café, sipping tea and eating small finger foods, acting like she was distracted by the magazine she was reading when really she was watching the HVT.

Overlord watched as hundreds of people flitted through the area, each one ignoring Issei, however one of them caught his eye. "Overlord-actual to Shadow-one, eyes on suspicious individual approaching HVT."

A young women in a red dress with cosplay black devil wings and a basket approached the HVT. He had the women's head in his crosshairs, years of training and practice compensating for wind and elevation. As the woman reached into the basket that she carried Leo's finger slowly squeezing the trigger of his rifle, halting as he felt the click of the two-stage trigger. If he didn't like what she pulled a single twitch and her head would be reduced to a fine mist.

"Shadow-one has eyes on suspicious individual, currently engaged with HVT. Listening spell active."

They both paused and heard what the woman was saying. "Here take this leaflet."

Issei looked at the piece of paper in his hand, noting the occult-like thing with a weird magic circle and a sentence written on it. "Your dream will be granted!" He whispered, though it was loud enough for the spell to pick up on his words. The slight compulsion spell on the paper took hold of him, and instead of throwing it away like he wanted to he ended up stuffing it into the pocket of his pants.

"That woman is a familiar." Cornelia said.

"Overlord agrees. Be aware of possible devil presence in the area."

"Roger." She answered as the familiar disappeared around a corner.

At 1030 their boredom was broken once more. "Overlord-actual to Shadow-one eyes on Crow-one. Approaching HVT from the North. Time is now 1030."

"Copy Overlord-actual. Shadow-one has eyes on target. HVT has made contact with Crow-one. Humanoid golems designated Golem-One to Golem-Thirty-Six activated, and are moving into position."

"Targets are currently conversing. Be ready to move." A minute later the two turned away from each other, and Issei gently grasped his date's hand.

"Targets are on the move." Leo said, watching them.

"Confirmed. Shadow-one is on the move." Cornelia left her spot at the café, throwing down a handful of bills and began to trail after them. "Is the HVT crying?" She asked in amazement.

"Overlord confirms tears." He responded in amusement. The poor boy looked like holding hands with her was such an amazing thing. "HVT and Crow-one have entered the clothing store. Overlord does not have eyes on target. I repeat no eyes on target."

"Acknowledged. Golems-three and seven are in position." Looking at the compact mirror he had he saw exactly what the golems were seeing. "Targets seem to be browsing the shop."

"Agreed." He replied, sweeping the street for any signs of trouble.

"Shadow-one changing disguise." Cornelia said ducking into an alley and coming out with a completely different body and look. This time she looked like an average housewife. "Targets are leaving the store."

"Overlord has reacquired targets." The statement proved to be true only for a few moments before the pair disappeared once more into a different shop, one that hadn't been on their list of places. "Targets have entered unsecured location. Repeat unsecured."

"Shadow-one, entering target location."

The cycle repeated itself several times, as the two moved between shops, sometimes entering them and other times just window browsing. Cornelia was always on their tail, though she changed her looks and clothes frequently. To further avoid suspicion she had different groups of golems sometimes follow the two lovebirds out, one positioned in front of them, one to the side and one to the back, and she herself was further back. The golems worked to corral them slightly, preventing them from entering some places. As they moved further and further away, his position as overwatch deteriorated as the street angle and he could no longer line up clear shots. He soon found himself slinging his rifle and teleporting from roof to roof, moving further and further away to prevent Raynare from detecting his magic. He still kept his eyes on them, though he was pushing the range on his rifle at almost 2000 yards. In fact the only reason that they weren't tiny pinpricks in his scope was because of his magically enhanced vision as well as an enchanted scope. At this range although he knew he could hit his target which was still amazing as at this range the bullet drop was almost 184 feet, but the guarantee of a kill from one round was up in the air. He needed to get closer.

The opportunity came when the pair decided to eat lunch. As the two entered a family restaurant, Leo couldn't suppress a smirk; there were so many windows that they might as well have not been in the building at all. Though glass always was a bitch to shoot through and played havoc with bullet trajectories even if they punched through, his .338 should make short work of it.

He took a single step and folded space underneath him, using the smallest amount of magic possible. Cornelia had shifted form for what must've been the tenth time that day and was eating in a booth not 10 feet from them, as he once more took overwatch. A part of him was envious at the chocolate parfait that she was eating, and unfortunately he was stuck once more nibbling on a piece of hardtack that he had baked last night. Even with his skills nothing could elevate the hard bread square and it remained the same hard, nutritious and nasty tasting biscuit that sailors during the Age of Discovery had lived on.

This mission was really starting to bore him, though he didn't struggle to maintain his focus as many of his jobs in the past were boring one minute and then next the situation had exploded. If things continued like this he would be happy, and he could report his findings to Azazel after making contact with the Grigori observation team.

Sadly things never seemed to want to go his way when they were important. It was sunset, and the two had been out on their date for most of the day. Issei had led them to the park, and they were currently watching the orange sky as the day's final light died down.

"Shadow-one to Overlord-actual. Be advised that Crow-one had erected a barrier around the park preventing normal humans from entering."

Leo paused, not liking where this was going. "Overlord-actual to Shadow-one. Understood, engage stealth and approach carefully. HVT safety is top priority."

Raynare had let go of Issei's hand her back to the fountain as she stared into his eyes. Bringing up the listening charms once more, he heard what Raynare was saying. "I had a great time today, Issei." She smiled a look that hinted at the malevolence obscured by the mask of civility. "Hey Ise-kun."

"What is it Yuuma-chan?" Issei asked. The pit in Leo's stomach grew larger as he continued to listen to the conversation.

"There is something I want to do to celebrate our first date. Can you listen to my wish?"

"What is it?" The boy foolishly asked.

"Will you die for me?" Raynare asked, smiling innocently.

"Eh?" He said dumbly. "I'm sorry can you repeat that I think that there's something wrong with my ears."

"Will you die for me?" She repeats, her body shifting from the innocent Yuuma persona to Raynare the Fallen Angel.

STAB!

Issei looked down to see a spear embedded in his stomach.

"SHIT!" Leo cursed. "Shadow-one extract HVT!"

The boy was still alive, his hands grasping at the haft of the spear. "It was fun. The short time I spent with you. It was like playing house with a little child." Raynare said.

"Overlord engaging." Leo said coldly, taking aim at Raynare. He wouldn't kill her as he needed her alive to interrogate, but she certainly wouldn't be unharmed.

"Sorry. You were a threat to us, so we decided to get rid of you early. If you want to hold a grudge, then hate the God who put the Sacred Gear inside you." The Fallen Angel sneered, taking to the air.

She would've said something else, except a 250 grain .338 lapua magnum round punched through both her wings causing her spin rapidly out of control and to crash headfirst into the fountain. "Crow-one is down. Repeat, Crow-one is down."

By this time Cornelia had moved to Issei's side and was checking his injury. With Raynare's concentration broken the light spear in his gut had faded away. "Overlord HVT is too critical to move."

"Roger. Emergency treatment incoming." Leo grimaced as he pulled out a different rifle from his dimensional storage. Unlike any of his others this one was designed to fire concepts in the form of magic bullets. It was a single shot break action long gun, the entire thing was an amalgamation of dozens of different magic formulas turning it into a potent magical focus.

Channeling power into his right arm he tapped into the magical crest that contained the store of his entire family's magical knowledge. Time slowed to a crawl as his mind moved past his body into the metaphysical realm. He was in a large library, grey and dreary with a single pedestal in the middle. It was here, using that pedestal that he was able to search and find the information that he wanted.

His father's family had all been some of the greatest item creators in history, blessed by Gods of different pantheons they had come to understand things beyond mortal comprehension. They had learned the greatest thing of all, to give concepts form. Over the years they had experimented with this ability until they were finally able to utilize it in their works. Even now though hundreds of years had passed they were still limited in the amount of concepts that they could replicate as understanding one took a lifetime. His forefathers had stored their knowledge in the crest hoping one day that a descendent would be able to utilize them all. Leo for all his talents and power, still had only managed to add a single concept to the crest, and that was Restoration.

Touching the pedestal he pulled all the necessary information to create a healing item. "Synthesizing concept."

"Hypothesizing basic structure." He imagined the stream of information that he was getting as molten metal, and he began to pour it into a mold shaping the concept and casting it into the form of a boolit.

"Creating composition material." Wrapping the 'core' of the concept in a hard layer of magic that would allow it to penetrate the target's skin and open up inside of them. Creating a primed brass case with gunpowder loaded.

"Imitating the skill of its making." He imagined his entire reloading bench. Taking the case he primed it, flared the mouth of the brass, put a charge of powder in, seated the 'boolit', and finally crimped the edges.

"Excelling every manufacturing process." Everything happened in a split second, as he withdrew from the metaphysical realm. In his hand he held what looked like any other bullet. Copper jacketed and brass cased you could've put it against any other factory ammo and no one would be able to tell the difference. That was until you looked at it with magic.

This was no mortal bullet, but a concept given form. In his hands he held the ultimate tool for healing, an item capable of bringing a person back from the brink of death. So the question remained why didn't he sell them or mass produce them?

The problem was he couldn't. The amount of energy that each one drained from him was staggering such that he could only make one or two a day. If word got out that his items surpassed Phoenix Tears he'd be hunted down by all factions and pantheons. Not to mention the fact that snatching a person back from the jaws of Death tended to piss off the Death God who had claim over that person's soul. The last thing he wanted to do was to piss off the God/Goddess that had dominion over his afterlife.

Unlocking the action he loaded the single concept into the gun. Closing it with a satisfied click he lowered the hammer and took aim at Issei's body. He fired and a moment later the boolit struck Issei, piercing his skin and dumping pure energy into him. Powerful magics flooded his system working to restore the damage that Raynare had done to him. The effect was just as fast as Phoenix Tears only instead of working on a single wound at a time it worked through the whole body. The boy's wounds closed in an instant, though the strain from the overwhelming influx of magic drove him towards Hypnos' embrace.

To Issei thing had spiraled drastically out of control. In his mind he was dying, his hand coated in his crimson blood. It reminded him of the girl that he had seen at school, the beauty with crimson hair. Every time he had seen her, his eyes had always drifted to her hair.

If he was going to die, he was going to do it in the arms of a girl like that.

"I don't want to die a virgin." He whispered, his desire triggering the magic circle that the devil familiar had given him.

"Shadow-one be advised Devils incoming. Grab the HVT and fall back to the safe house." Leo ordered, dismissing his conceptual rifle and getting behind the lapua once more.

He could see the crimson circle with the crest of Gremory beginning to form, before it deposited two young women who he recognized from school. Rias Gremory and Akeno Himejima. Both parties met, and stared at each other for a moment. Cornelia had Issei slung over her shoulders like a sack of potatoes as Rias and Akeno looked on in disbelief. They had come to hear the dying wish of their kohai before Rias would reincarnate the boy into her servant. Fate had other plans that night, as Cornelia took off with speed that surpassed a knight. Leo opened fire as soon as his partner was in the clear, the first shot purposefully striking the ground in front of the two devils stopping them from advancing. In response the two called upon their power creating shields in front of them, not that it worked.

Leo wasn't shooting just any ammunition, but match grade tungsten carbide penetrators hand loaded to +P+ velocities. Each bullet had been imbued with the concept of piercing and a small amount of light. The brass cases reinforced to their utmost to handle the increased energy from his custom powder. He could make these conceptual bullets easily as they took nowhere near the amount of magic to create as his restoration boolits. This was because he had used runic arrays to add the effect to the bullet itself something he couldn't do with Restoration bullets as it would mean shooting the person with live ammunition rather than a magical concept in the form of a boolit.

His second shot pierced through Gremory's defense and nicked her shoulder. The third nicked Akeno's cheek, and it was only then that they got the message, sprinting from their current position and running towards the tree line. Even with their superhuman abilities they weren't faster than a speeding bullet as he emptied the rest of his magazine, the remaining seven shots nicking them as they took cover behind trees. Reloading he cast a messenger spell towards where Raynare was pulling herself out of the fountain.

"GET MOVING!" The message screamed, as his rifle roared and began sending hot metal down range. She needed no more encouragement, running from the area, her wings still damaged. He held his position providing covering fire for her, instilling the fear of God in the two devils every time they popped their head around cover.

"Shadow-one to Overlord-actual. HVT secured in safehouse."

"Copy that Shadow. Overlord is Oscar Mike to your position." Finishing his magazine he slung his rifle over his shoulder and teleported himself to New York, from there he randomly teleported 32 different times before heading back to Azazel's house.

There he met Cornelia who had already stripped off the clothing she had worn for the mission and was in the process of reducing it to a fine ash. She didn't need to worry about leaving any trace evidence that could lead them to her as she had worn gloves that randomly shifted her finger prints, spelled her hair so that none would fall, and the clothes she wore had been of common make anyone might've owned. Her boots had just been purchased and had nothing that could lead to their location through mineralogy or by looking at soil samples.

"What's the status of the HVT?" Leo asked stripping and burning his clothes before putting his invisibility cloak back into his pocket dimension.

"Secured in a detention cell and unconscious."

"Good." Leo said. "Get over to the target's home and take care of the parents, then come back here. I'm going to go report this to Azazel."

Nodding she headed off to Issei's house, intent on cleaning up the loose ends that had resulted from the mission. Moving through the house he located Issei's unconscious form and hit him with a powerful sleeping spell guaranteed to keep him out of it for at least 8 hours. He was taking no chances with the suspected Longinus possessor as he secured the boy's wrists to his ankles with Uru shackles, and around his waist a reinforced belt attached to a metal chain anchored several feet into the wall. After that was done he shoved a gag into the boy's mouth just in case he was able to cast spells verbally, then blindfolded him with a thick black piece of cloth that he affixed with both magic and a large rubber band, lastly he enchanted a pair of earmuffs and fit it over the boys head so that he would be unable to hear anything. Now that Leo had sealed off all his senses he placed a collar around his neck, a suppressor he had taken from the Vatican used when handling dangerous criminals with sacred gears.

Being as paranoid as he was he hit the boy with a second sleep spell, knowing that those with Dragon gears were inherently resistant to magic due to the spirits they held in their souls. Vali had a bad habit of shrugging off everything but his heaviest spells, and the last thing he wanted was to face a rampaging dragon.

Once everything was done and he was reasonably certain that the boy wouldn't be waking up anytime soon, he left and secured the door with a dozen different locking charms several of which were created by him. Believing in no such thing as overkill he sealed off the entire room trapping it in a pocket dimension.

Taking a piece of paper from his pocket he triggered the circle that was on it, turning it red for high priority before throwing it onto the floor. A minute later Azazel appeared wearing a yukata and looking like he had been relaxing when Leo had called him.

"Yo." The Governor said, raising his hand in greeting.

"Azazel." Leo nodded. "Drink?"

"Please."

There was nothing more useful that dimensional storage as he pulled out a bottle of scotch and two glasses.

"How are you guys settling in?" He asked, sipping at his drink.

"It's been eventful." Leo said mysteriously.

"Really? Cause it hasn't even been a week since I last saw you." Azazel said. "How much trouble could you have gotten yourselves into already?"

"Let's see, killed a Pillar devil or at least shattered his mind, assaulted an heiress of another Pillar family the sister of Lucifer, shot her Queen, captured the supposed wielder of the Mid-Tier Longinus Boosted Gear." Leo counted off, waiting for Azazel to take another sip before saying. "And found a rogue element in the Grigori."

The governor choked a bit, before demanding "What?"

"The group that you stationed here has exceeded the orders that you gave them. They tried to kill Hyoudou Issei today."

"Who?"

"Raynare, light spear to the gut."

"That'll ruin anyone's day." Azazel mused, already over the fact that the group seemed to be overstepping their authority. "Is the boy-"

"Dead?" Leo asked raising a brow. The governor nodded, causing Leo to shake his head. "No, but it was a close thing, we almost lost him to the Devils who had given him one of their summoning slips. If I hadn't hit him with one of my healing bullets he'd have ended up being Gremory's newest servant. We've got him sedated and under lock and key at the moment."

"Can I see him?" Azazel, his inner scientist beginning to get the better of him, looked like a kid in a candy shop. "I've never gotten a chance to get up close to the Boosted Gear."

Leo looked at the eager puppy dog look that the man had before sighing and beginning to undo all the locks that he had put on the door. Twenty minutes later they were able to open it and enter the room. Leo went first his hand already firing off a sleep spell before he even crossed the threshold. _This is probably not good for his health._ Leo thought, but then dismissed it as it was better that the boy was asleep and unaware.

"Kinky." Azazel commented, seeing all the restraints placed on the boy.

"Cornelia likes it." Leo grinned, moving aside for the Governor to get a closer look.

"His magic power is abysmal." Azazel noted. "Physically he's weak, his only strength being in his legs. He's not even that fast considering that he always gets caught by the females he pervs on."

"Like you're one to talk."

""The difference between us, is that after I'm caught I'm not beaten by sticks." Azazel said, before grinning lewdly. "It's more like they're beating me off or I'm beating them with my stick."

"Shut up Pervert Governor." Cornelia said walking into the room. "Kinky."

Leo sighed at her comment, it seemed like perversion was ingrained in their very nature. "You know I kind of feel bad for him."

"Hello Cornelia, your mother says hello, and why's that?" Azazel asked.

"Because he has Vali as a rival." Cornelia snarked. "At her current strength she would be able to beat him with both her arms tied behind her back, her legs bound and blindfolded. That's without even entering Balance Break."

"Lia's right." Leo agreed. "A single spell from Vali and that would be the end of the fight."

"It's like casting pearls before swine." She said sadly. "You're better off extracting the gear from him and implanting it into a new host. It would probably be easier than trying to train him up to snuff."

"That research has been abandoned for a reason." Azazel said coldly, a change from his normal jovial behavior.

"Really? Because we've been hearing rumors recently."

"What rumors?" The Fallen asked.

"People with unawakened sacred gears have gone missing. Snatched in broad daylight and under cover of the night, at home and abroad no one is safe. Their bodies turn up a few weeks later, their gear having been violently ripped out." Cornelia answered. "Are you sure that the information is secure?"

"Positive, I destroyed all the prototypes myself and locked the documents up in the vaults." Azazel defended.

"Then maybe someone is trying to do what you refused." Leo said grimly. There was a lull in the conversation, as both parties thought about the consequences of such research. "What do you want us to do about the boy? I mean I could try and alter his memories, make him idolize you and follow your commands with zealous devotion."

"Release him." Azazel commanded. "The mission was to observe only, whatever he chooses is up to him."

"You know that because of Raynare the chances of him joining the Grigori are almost nonexistent."

"There was never a chance to begin with." Azazel said dryly. "Vali would've never accepted him, and I'm not going to alienate one of my best fighters on the gamble that Hyoudou can even be trained to our standard."

"How is she by the way?" Leo asked. "I got a text from her telling me that she would be ready should something happen, but that she couldn't be here right now."

"I've got her observing a target. It's an internal matter." Azazel responded dismissively.

Cornelia whistled. "Must be some target if you were able to convince her to stop training and just watch a person. If I were you I'd be careful she might get the idea to fabricate evidence so that you would order her to engage."

He opened his mouth, only to close it a moment later. That was something that Vali would do.

"Anyways I'm sure that Raynare has already wiped any traces of her existence as Yuuma Amano out, so we need to locate where they're holed up."

"There's only one place that they'd be." Leo said theatrically. "The abandoned church."

"Or you could've just read the location in the packet I gave you." Azazel sweatdropped.

"Cornelia would you mind releasing Issei later on tonight, seeing as you need to escort him home and restore his parents to full health."

"After dinner." She answered. "Azazel will you be eating with us tonight?"

"Can't, I have too much paperwork building up, it seems like our Chief Secretary has gotten fed up with me dumping all my work on her. She tried to spear me as I left to come here." With that, Azazel moved to get ready to leave. "Try not to kill any of my subordinates."

"No promises on the stray exorcists that you have there, but I'll try to keep the Grigori alive." Leo said. Azazel nodded and disappeared with a *whump* and a flurry of feathers. "Come on Lia, let's go get dinner."

"Takeout?"

"Pizza. I'm feeling Chicago deep dish." Leo said.

"The restaurants aren't even open yet." Cornelia pointed towards the clock."

Looking at it for a moment he groaned. "I hate being in different time zones."

She laughed. "Come on I'm sure that Azazel's got something in the fridge that can be whipped up quick. Besides we still have some work to do tonight and eating a heavy meal before a battle isn't good for your health."

"Neither is the nightly marathon sex necessary to keep you sated." Leo said.

"Really? Perhaps we should stop that then." She threatened with a raised brow.

"Shutting up." He grumbled.

"Thought so." She smiled before giving him a kiss. "I'm only doing this because I want you to live a long life with me."

Dinner that night consisted of simple sandwiches assembled from whatever was left in the fridge. It wasn't amazing but it certainly took the edge off their hunger. I'll write a note and have the maids purchase some more things so that we can cook for ourselves when we're hungry."

"Ok. Would you mind giving me a hand in releasing our captive?"

Together they approached the room that they were holding their school mate hostage. "You know, since he's currently unconscious and all, it wouldn't be that hard to mess with his mind." Leo remarked. "10 minutes or so and I can have him be as celibate as a priest without a single lustful thought."

Cornelia paused, seriously considering his offer, but ultimately she shook her head. "No need, if he peeks on me I'll see if classical conditioning still works." There was a hint of malice in her voice as her eyes took on a devilish light. He shivered as she moved her hand as if she were gripping a sword.

Undoing the various seals on the door he once again hit the boy with a sleep spell before beginning to undo the various restraints. Almost an hour later he had managed to remove everything but the shackles on his wrists, the blindfold, and the earmuffs. He purposefully left those on just in case the boy woke up while Cornelia was transporting him. "I'll see you when I get back." Leo said giving her a quick kiss.

"Don't take too long." She said lovingly, but then added seriously. "Don't let Kala lure you to her bed."

"I love you." He reassured.

"Yes and several women would love nothing more for you to love them too." She grumbled. "Remember what I said. I expect to be number 1 in your heart, and if you take any to our bed, I better be there."

"You know if you wanted a threesome you could've just said so." He grinned, flinching as she pinched his side.

"My love is for you only." Saying that she once again slung Issei over her shoulder, and disappeared in a flash.

"That woman." Leo sighed massaging his side. "I really do love her." Making a note to do something special for her he once again withdrew the bronze key necessary to open up his workshop.

After entering the dimensionally isolated room, he took a turn and opened the door to the armory. Racks of weapons ranging from simple swords to elaborately detailed warhammers, pistols and rifles from all ages and all levels of technology, and even a cabinet dedicated to his more energetic weapons. Of course the last one was kept under lock and key for no other reason that the stuff made composition-four look like a firecracker. In addition to weapons there were a variety of clothing suitable for different missions and functions.

He wasn't expecting trouble, but you never really knew what you might run into. the suit that he was wearing was of the same style as the one that he had worn when first visiting Kuoh. Black double-breasted jacket with silver trimmings, black pants, and polished black brogue shoes, over a grey vest and white shirt topped with a blue cravat with gold threads. He liked wearing suits as they had a certain elegance and refinement to them, not to mention the one that he was wearing had been made from the hide of a Nemean Lion. Not the giant one that Hercules had slain but one of its smaller offspring. It didn't have the same resilience as the legendary hide but it rivaled plate armor in strength and while offering impressive magic resistance.

Going over to one of the racks of clothing he pulled out his trusty great coat, made from heavy wool and imbued with hundreds of spells to help protect him. It was a dark grey double-breasted with silver buttons, and had a wide collar that could be turned out for extra warmth and to protect against rain. The coat fell almost to his ankles and his forwent the shoulder cape instead being split in the back allowing for ease of movement. Cornelia often made fun of his choice of wearing it, but he repeatedly told her that it completed his image. He may have been somewhat vain about his appearance but the coat was practical before it was stylish, and that was the only reason she let him keep it.

Flaring it open he checked to make sure all the straps were tight before taking a simple holy sword from one of the racks. While nowhere near as potent as a legendary blade like Durandal or Excalibur it was more than comparable to the power of something produced by Blade Blacksmith. Sheathing it at his waist, he left the armory and after putting down a request for materials on one of his note pads, exited his workshop.

Instead of teleporting directly into the church he appeared a few blocks away, and activated the concealment charms on his coat, just in case a normal person saw him.

The walk was quick and easy, as there was really no one out at this time. Arriving at the property line he shook his head, the fools hadn't even set a simple detection ward to warn them of intruders. Canceling the concealment charms on himself, he knocked on the door which resounded with a booming thud. _Wonder if someone is actually going to open the door._

A minute later an elderly man dressed as a priest had opened the door, and stuck his head out. "Hello?"

"Hello Father." Leo said bowing his head in respect. "I find myself in the middle of a crisis and seek your guidance."

The man shifted uncomfortably. "I'm sorry but the church is currently undergoing repairs, and isn't in any state to host visitors."

"I'm sorry, is there nothing you can do? I have nowhere else to turn, and wish to talk." Leo said lacing his voice with a bit of hypnotism.

"Well maybe for a few minutes." The man said opening the door slightly.

"Thank you father." If he thought the exterior of the church was bad it had nothing on the interior. All around him were broken pews covered in dust, cracked stain glass and he could see starlight pouring in through a hole in the roof. The only thing that looked cared for was the altar which had a fresh cloth laid atop it with a golden chalice.

"What seems to be the problem my child?" The priest asked.

"Father I find myself in quite the predicament. You see I've been hired by a certain individual to check up on his subordinates who he is worried about. Except when I get there the subordinates are all still alive and have against his orders. My job is to make them fall in line. After all we can't have any crows flying free of the Grigori." Leo said lightly. "Don't try to reach into your robe, you won't get very far."

The man's hand which had been inching towards the saber hilt in his pocket stopped, seeing the saber hilt in Leo's hand poised to activate and sever his femoral artery. "What is it you want?" The man asked.

"I'm looking for Raynare."

"Lady Raynare is not to be disturbed." The Fallen Priest said mechanically.

"Trust me, she'll make an exception for me."

Just as the man was about the respond someone decided to kick the doors of the church in. A young man around his age dressed in clerical clothing with short white hair and red eyes. He had a disturbing smile plastered on his face as he loudly proclaimed. "Honey I'm Home!"


	5. Act I: Fallen Meetings and Chess

Chapter 5

Author's Note: So next chapter will be the introduction of Rias' peerage. I posted a poll on my profile determining the fate of Yuuto/Yumi so please take a moment to vote. Lime in this chapter, I think. I wouldn't go so far as to classify it as a lemon, but meh, some might. Thinking up ideas for Leo's Balance Break and would love to hear you suggestions. Also has anyone figured out what race Cornelia is?

* * *

"You!" "You!" Leo and the newcomer said pointing at one another.

"Tonight must be my lucky night." Leo grinned, chuckling darkly, moving towards man.

"The fuck you talking about punk?" The priest sneered, his tongue lolling out of his mouth in a disgusting expression. The priest drew a standard exorcist pistol and light sword.

"Remember me Freed?" Leo smiled sadistically, folding space to close the distance between the two. The boy-priest was barely able to take a step back as a dagger slashed upwards through his shirt and nicking him in the chin. "I'm finally going to put you down like the mad dog you are."

"Who are you? Another one of those child molesting bastards here to bring me back to the Church?"

"No." Leo answered drawing his twin sacred gears. "I'm here to fill your body with bullets." With that said he began to unleash a rapid stream of light bullets.

"Uwww. That sounds so dirty." The mad priest said, his body swaying lewdly as he dove for cover. "Are you always the pitcher or do you play catcher to?" Leo's only response was to fire a bullet towards the pews that the priest was using as cover. "Awww, did I hit a nerve?" He insanely stuck his head up, a light bullet grazing his cheek.

"You fucker! It doesn't matter cause tonight you're going to be playing catcher when I take this here light sword and shove it up your ass!" The man cackled charging towards Leo while firing his own pistol.

Massive calculations were going on in Leo's brain as thousands of thoughts happened at an accelerated pace. The bullets traveled through space, and in that moment he had already grasped everything about them from their angle, trajectory, speed, and best way to intercept. While he didn't have the same power over space as his mother did, his own skills were enough to do what he was about to do.

For every shot that Freed fired, Leo fired two in return, the first intercepting the insane priest's bullet, the other traveling to strike at him. Soon enough the man ran out of ammo and Leo was giving him no chances to reload. As for Leo's shots, he licked his lips savoring the pained look that the priest had as his own shots bored holes through the thin vestments and flesh with surgical precision.

None of his shots were lethal, nor were they exiting the body something that they were capable of, instead they aimed to cause pain. As Freed ran at him in a mad rage, swinging his sword wildly, Leo switched targets his first shot boring a hole straight through the center of the man's foot and into the stone floor below.

Freed screeched in pain missing his next step and tumbling towards Leo. Another step and Leo ended up on the other side of the Church, shooting the priest with his twin guns. Once more he had lowered the intensity of his weapon as cigarette like burns appeared all over Freed's body. The one time that the priest had tried to reach for his weapon Leo drilled a hole through his hand. Even his last ditch escape attempt with a flashbang ended in nothing more than him stumbling a few feet before Leo put two into his good leg. With no escape he could do nothing more than curl up into a ball and protect his face and chest.

"Die." Leo declared. There was nothing to it, no needless boasting, no grandstanding or evil monloguing. If he had his choice he would draw this out but he had neither the time nor tools to do so. Holding down the trigger, allowing the shot to charge up he fired, aiming to pierce the mad priest's heart.

The purple beam collided with a blue light spear, and though it shattered the spear with ease it was enough to divert his attack.

Clicking his tongue in annoyance, Leo turned to see a Fallen to the side, having intercepted his attack. The fallen was a middle-aged man with short black hair and dark blue eyes, and was dressed in a pale violet trenchcoat over a white dress shirt with a matching ascot. Like Leo he also wore black pants and stylish brogue shoes. The final topper was the fedora that he wore. "Dohnaseek." Leo greeted.

"Leopold." The fallen nodded civilly. "May I ask what you are doing here?"

"Right now I'm putting down a mad dog." He answered getting ready to fire once more. "After that I have business with Raynare."

"I can't allow you to do that." The older man said summoning another light spear. "Lord Kokabiel has seen fit to attach him to our group."

A twitch developed as the war-mongering cadre of the Grigori was mentioned. That man was one of the few setbacks to his selling weapons and equipment to the Grigori as he had no doubt that the man would use them to start conflicts with the other factions. Still thought he was one of the Leaders of the Grigori so he couldn't lash out against him.

"Very well then, his life is in your hands." Leo said. Seeing Dohnaseek relax he attacked, and in less time than it took to blink he had fired once more at the fallen priest.

"MY BALL! YOU BLEW OFF ONE OF MY FUCKING BALLS!" Freed screeched, clutching at his ruined crotch.

"Oh you fucker. I remember you now!" Freed sneered. "You're that merc that always travels with the hot bitch with the great rack! Oh the things that I would love to do to her! MOTORBOAT ANYONE?"

"Shut up!" Leo said kicking the man in the head, before gripping him by the shirt and lifting him into the air. "If I hear you talk about Gabriel or Cornelia like that again I'll blow off the other one."

Dohnaseek knew what was coming as he saw a dagger materialize in Leo's hand and he moved, knocking Freed out of Leo's grasp as he slammed a fist down onto the Priest's skull knocking him out. "Shut up you fool!" The Fallen Angel hissed. "Thank you. For leaving him alive at least."

"Just keep him away from me." Leo warned. "Else next time I'll be putting a bullet in his head instead of playing around with him."

The older man nodded, flinging the priest into the pews. "Why did you come here?"

"I need to speak to you and the others." Leo said.

Dohnaseek looked him over, before raising a brow. "Raynare is not fit at the moment. Something punched a hole through her lower feathers and she's been in a pissy mood trying to heal them.

"This is important." Leo explained. "I'm under contract from Azazel."

"Do you have any proof? Lord Azazel never said anything about you coming here."

Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a piece of parchment. It was a standard mercenary contract, Azazel having filled out the various parts and objectives that he needed to complete in order to guarantee payment. The proof though was the two red wax seals at the bottom. The first was his own, pressed in with the simple signet ring he wore on his pinkie and right next to it was his signature written in blood. The other was Azazel's and was a vertical elaborately detailed spear with 12 wings, six on each side. Next to that was Azazel's name and while not signed in blood it had his unique signature to it.

Gesturing for the Fallen Angel to read it, he held on to it as this was one of only three copies. A few minutes later Dohnaseek was satisfied that it was authentic and leading him to the sanctum.

"Where is everyone? The reports said that you should've had a contingent of exorcists accompanying you."

"They're around. Some are in the barracks, others turned one of the larger halls into a training area, and others are out on patrol."

"I hope that they're not causing trouble with the local devils." Leo commented, as Dohnaseek led him deeper into the church.

Dohnaseek shook his head. "Raynare told them that the strays were fare game, but not to attack the Sitri or Gremory peerages. We don't have the necessary forces to get into conflict with them."

"Good, though I'm surprised that there were any stray at all in this town considering that there are two high-class devils here."

"Only a few. We've had to branch out to other towns, moving around has been difficult with all the guards that are on the outskirts of the city." Dohnaseek described, pushing open a door to an opulent study, with several comfortable chairs.

"Wait here and I'll get the others."

"Thank you." Taking off his greatcoat he took a seat and pulled out the files that Azazel had given him. For the umpteenth time since he had entered the town he began to review the mission that the Grigori group was supposed to be doing but were in violation of. He was like this for maybe a half hour before he heard footsteps approaching, and placing the folder on the central desk stood ready.

The door was thrown open slamming into the wall and throwing up a cloud of dust.

"Brother!" A girl cried. A blonde blur slammed into him, almost knocking him clean off his feet.

"Mittelt!" Leo smiled, patting the girl on the head. "How has your first mission been?"

Mittelt, a multi-generation pure-blood Fallen Angel, meaning that she never fell from Heaven but her parents were both pure-blood Fallen from Heaven. He had met her years ago, and she had taken a real shine to him as he often gave her sweets and showed her around some of the places that he visited. As always she wore her blonde hair in twintails and wore a black Lolita dress with white frills, a large black bow on the front and a green jewel on the collar. She was also wearing white thigh-high socks and black shoes and finally a black bow atop her head that he had gotten her from one of his trips.

"It's okay." The girl shrugged burying her head into his chest. "But it's been boring! None of the others let me go out by myself, and they stopped me from exploring the city."

"You know why you can't go out by yourself." Leo chided. "You're still young, enjoy it while you can."

She looked up at him, wielding the infamous puppy dog eyes complete with watery eyes and quivering lips. "But, I don't see the harm in escorting you around the city." He folded like a house of cards in the middle of a hurricane.

"Thank you!" Mittelt yelled squeezing him tightly. He smiled wryly as he continued to pet the younger girl on the head. Another pair of arms encircled him, and he froze as he felt something soft pushing against his back.

"Starting young?" A sultry and smoky voice said in his ear. "You know if you want I'm more than willing to get into roleplay. I can't play the younger sister, but how about the sexy teacher guiding the younger and impressionable man through the throes of passion?" She giggled as she felt him shiver as her hot breath was on his ear. "Or would you prefer for me to be something more submissive? Come for me milord! Come and take this innocent women's virtue. Dominate and spoil her for any other man! Make her writhe in pleasure as you unleash all your depravity upon her body."

"Kalawarner." Leo said, prying Mittelt off and turning around, to face the older and buxom Fallen. She was wearing a violet trench-coat like top with a wide collar, a matching miniskirt, and black heeled shoes. As always the trench-coat tope was wide open giving him the perfect view of her ample cleavage.

"That's it." She whispered. "That anger in your eyes, the smell of lust radiating from you. That's what I want to see." She moaned heat shooting through her as she shuddered.

"You keep pushing and one of these days you'll push me too far." He warned, one hand gripping her long blue hair, the other on her ass. The minor height difference between them allowed him to look down on her flush face. Of course his eyes kept drifting lower looking at her gorgeous breasts, and her body that was made for sin. Even with that body he knew the truth, Kalawarner hadn't been one of the original Fallen Angels and unlike her compatriots hadn't fallen due to lust, but Envy. She had been envious of Gabriel's position as the Strongest and Most Beautiful Woman of Heaven and the feelings had festered within her until one day it consumed her, and lashed out daring to attack the Seraph.

She had been thoroughly defeated fleeing from the might of the Seraph. When she finally recovered the haze had cleared from her mind and she had realized what she had done, her once beautiful white wings were now pitch black. From her foolish actions she had not only lost her halo, but also her father's blessing and she wept at reality. With no other place to go she turned to the Azazel who welcomed her with open arms. While she was still envious of Gabriel the feeling had been tempered as she sought out the other sins, transforming into the lustful creature before him with a hunger to rival a succubus, something that he knew for a fact.

"I love it when you're rough with me." She hissed in pain as her head was pulled back.

"Mittelt step to the side a bit and promise me you won't move until I tell you to." Leo commanded, and after seeing the younger girl shoot him a thumbs up, dropped 4 runestones on the ground around her. A black wall rose up preventing her from hearing or seeing anything outside of the confines of the ward. He spared a moment to make sure that it was functioning properly, before he attacked, nipping at the older Fallen's neck, sucking on her skin and leaving a trail of love bites.

"That's it." She purred, pulling him against her. Reaching up she grabbed him by the hair and pulled him off, before savagely mashing her lips against his. Shoving her tongue down his throat she explored his mouth as his hands deftly unbuttoned her top and massaged her breasts. Her hand darted into his pants, as he groaned at her touch. "I can't wait to feel this in me again. Lia doesn't know how lucky she really is. Where is she by the way?"

"Taking care of a loose end." Leo said, feeling the woman convulse as he channeled a bit of electricity through his fingers and into the nipple he was pinching.

"Bring her next time." Kalawarner demanded. "She tastes absolutely delicious."

"Are you unsatisfied by me?" He teased pulling away slightly. While Cornelia had no affection for the older woman she wouldn't turn down the opportunity.

"Don't tease me." She hissed trying to push him to the floor. He stopped her, grabbing her hands hoisting them over her head as he shoved her against the wall.

"I lead this dance." Leo growled, feeling the heat that was coming from her nether region as his leg was pressed against her. The next thing he knew he was face up against the floor, Kalawarner straddling him with her twin wings proudly displayed.

"Forgot about my wings?" She asked, running a hand down his shirt, slicing it open.

"Yeah." He admitted sitting up.

"You men and breasts." Kalawarner gasped, as he placed several kisses on her breast. He didn't go straight for her pert nipples instead licking around , his rough tongue overloading her brain so that all she could do was hold on and moan. As his tongue moved closer and closer her panting grew faster and heavier, her moaning filled with need and lust. Ending her torment he took her nipple into his mouth and gently bit it, his tongue flitting across the erect nub, his other hand rolling her other nipple while channeling a small amount of electricity into her. She shuddered under his tender mercies his pants growing wet as an orgasm ripped through her body.

"WHAT THE FUCK!"

Both of them turned to see Raynare frozen at the threshold of the doorway.

"Fuckin' hell." Leo groaned realizing the discomfort that was to come. "Should've put a ward up to stop anyone from entering."

Meanwhile Kalawarner was glaring daggers at Raynare, the sheer malice coming from her enough the send the younger Fallen several steps back. "We'll be having a talk later."

Raynare could do nothing but nod furiously. "Turn around, Leo doesn't need you besmirching his body with your gaze." Raynare would've never let such an insult stand but from the look that her compatriot was shooting her she knew she was very close to being speared and her body dumped in the ocean. So reluctantly she turned around with a humph.

Kalawarner got off and turned away from the door as she began to button up her top, allowing him to stand. He groaned painfully his pants tight, as Dohnaseek shot him a discrete thumbs up.

Grimacing as he moved around, he mouthed "blue balls". The older male winced and tipped his hat in consolation. A few minutes of meditation later he was finally calm once more, and dispelled the ward around Mittelt.

"What's going on?" The girl asked, then noticing both his and Kalwarner's disheveled clothes laughed. "Kukuku. I see that you were both up to something."

Leo hadn't blushed in years, and he wasn't about to start from a single comment. "We were sparring."

"Really? I thought Kalawarner wielded the spear not you." Mittelt stared at him dumbly, but after seeing his impassive face sighed. "I'm a Fallen Angel, brother. My parents are Fallen who fell because of Lust. Auntie Nemue gave me the talk already not to mention that I'm 16 and I've seen plenty of members of the Grigori rutting around. So when you tell me that you're sparring when I can literally smell the lust off the both of you, it's more like you're planning on sheathing your spear inside her."

"No comment." Leo said doggedly. Mittelt was like his baby sister and he refused to be drawn into a conversation about sex with her.

"Look Dohnaseek said you had something important to say." Raynare snapped impatiently. "So spit it out already we've got a mission to get back to."

"Don't take that tone with me Raynare!" Leo sneered in anger. "If it wasn't because of your stupidity Cornelia and I would still be on the beach relaxing rather than here in this town so close to the devils I despise." As his anger rose, his control began to slip and the very space around them began to tremble as several items were compressed from sheer pressure. "But no, because you refused to follow orders I'm here cleaning up the mess."

"What are you talking about?" Kalawarner asked unnaturally serious. Ever since Azazel had saved her she had been loyal to him.

"Your orders were only to observe the target, not eliminate." Leo said.

"No they aren't." Mittelt spoke up. "We received new orders from Lord Azazel telling us to that the target was to be eliminated while he was still weak."

"Really?" Leo drawled though he reigned himself in since this was his sister speaking. "Tell me when did Azazel contact you and change your orders?"

"About 5 days ago, when we did our last check-in." Mittelt said. "I know because I talked to Lord Azazel and updated him on our status personally."

"And did you notice anything odd about him when you reported?"

The girl shook her head. "Everything seemed normal to me. While I didn't report to him face to face, he knew all our pass phrases and gave the proper verification before I started."

"You're certain that it was Azazel?" He interrogated.

"Positive." Mittelt responded resolutely.

"What's going on Leo?" Kalawarner asked. "Don't bother denying it, I can see it in your face."

"Raynare disobeyed orders tonight when she decided to attack the target." Leo said simply, dropping the bomb on them.

"That's impossible!" Raynare exclaimed. "Lord Azazel said that the target was to be eliminated before he could be a danger to us."

"Strange then how Azazel has absolutely no memory of giving such orders." Leo pointed out. "In fact the reason that Cornelia and I are here was to investigate and ascertain your current status. Azazel was beginning to get worried when you missed your last few check-ins."

"But we haven't!" Mittelt said, worried since she was the one supposed to be handling communications for this mission.

"Azazel never gave those orders, you've been out of contact with him, even though you keep saying that you've been regularly reporting. Therefore not only has Raynare gone against Azazel's express orders, but the three of you are now complicit." Leo said coldly, causing the three older Fallen to stiffen.

Mittelt was close to tears, when he placed a reassuring hand on her head. "Thankfully things haven't spiraled too far out of control, that we can't fix it."

"When's your next check-in?"

"Three days." Mittelt said.

"Okay." Leo nodded. "Here's what we're going to do. Mittelt will check-in as she would normally do. Chances are that because of Raynare's actions the target is going to end up being recruited by either one of the two devil peerages. Therefore I want you, Dohnaseek, to monitor the boy at night. I don't really care what he gets up to at home, but if he steps foot outside I want you to tail him and report back to me." Taking a black card out of his pocket he handed it to the man. "For business expenses, I'll bill it off to Azazel later. "Kalawarner continue as you normally do, Raynare break out the Amano Yuuma disguise, you're coming with me tomorrow to Kuoh. From this point forward the only ones allowed to have contact with the target are Raynare, Cornelia, myself and if an emergency arises Dohnaseek."

"Yes" Rang out from the four fallen as they received their marching orders.

"Good. We'll reconvene in three days when Mittelt calls in for the next check-in. Remember we don't know if this fake Azazel has observers throughout the city or among the exorcists so it is imperative that you act as if you normally do."

"Wait I have one final question." Raynare interjected.

"Make it quick we're on a tight schedule here." Leo grumbled.

"Did you shoot me?"

"Of course I did." Leo said as if it were obvious. "Consider it punishment for disobeying Azazel's orders." Raynare nodded several times before winding up and attempting to punch him in the face. Attempting being the keyword as he sidestepped the punch and tripped her. "I don't know why you're complaining. I could've easily taken your head instead of a couple of feather."

"A couple of feathers!" She said outraged. "Try the entirety of my lower wings. I won't be able to fly properly for days."

"Get over yourself, you're alive and that's all that matters."

With that said Mittelt grabbed Raynare before she could protest and marched her out the door Dohnaseek following a moment later, leaving him with Kalawarner. She was in his arms as soon as the door closed, Dohnaseek shooting him a discrete thumbs up once more. "I love it when you're dominant with me." She growled. He grabbed her tightly around the waist and teleported them straight to the house that Azazel had lent them. As soon as they appeared on the other side it was a race to see who could get their clothes off faster, as they kissed and pawed at each other's body. They didn't even make it to the bedroom as Leo took her right there in the kitchen.

Cornelia, who had been sitting in the living room, merely raised a brow at the two before putting down her book and walking towards them.

"Yeowch!" Leo and Kalawarner screamed in pain clutching themselves as they turned to see an angry Cornelia staring at them.

"What did I say Leo?" She said darkly.

"Not to let Kala seduce me into her bed?" He ventured.

"Is that a question or a statement?" She asked.

"But we're not in her bed." He said cheekily, wincing as another bolt of lightning ran through him.

Cornelia rubbed her head tiredly. "You two clean up this mess. The kitchen is for preparing food, not fucking." She saw the expression on the two and added. "When you're done I'll be upstairs waiting for you, and we can do this properly."

Needless to say they cleaned that kitchen in record time and ran faster up the stairs to their room to see Cornelia already spread on the bed. A tempting feast waiting to be devoured in her sheer white lingerie.

They dove right in and by the time they were all spent they had little energy left to move. Cornelia had a goofy grin plastered on her face from all the attention and devotion that she got, and tangled in each other's embrace they fell asleep.

* * *

The next morning proved to be an interesting one. Leo and Cornelia woke up late and had to rush to fix themselves in time to get to school, no matter how much they wanted to skip and stay in bed with their blue haired lover. Once more Leo found himself praising the maids as they laid out a veritable feast for as they were both running on fumes from their activities last night. Devouring the food, he grabbed his love and teleported them as close as he dared with the devils controlling the school. From there they sprinted to their class beating the bell by several minutes.

As Leo was settling in for another boring day of class, a shadow appeared over him. Looking up he saw a girl with reddish brown hair smiling at him. "Hi, I'm not sure if you remember me but I'm Tomoe. Tomoe Meguri." The girl said happily. _She has way too much energy to for the morning._ Leo thought. _Especially since she's a devil._

"I remember." Leo said idly. "You're part of the Student Council."

"Haha." The girl giggled rubbing her head sheepishly. "I didn't expect you to remember me from our brief meeting."

"I rarely forget people." Leo dismissed. "Is there something that you need?"

"Yes." The girl nodded, her head moving so fast that he wouldn't have been surprised if it flew off. "Sitri-kaichou wanted me to tell you to come by the Student Council Room after school. That is if you're not doing anything."

He thought about it for a few moments before nodding. "That's fine."

"Great." Tomoe smiled. "Then I'll meet you here after class and guide you to the room." Saying that she stepped back and took her seat on the far side of the room.

"What was that about?" Cornelia asked.

"Sitri wants a meeting with me after class." Leo answered.

"Do you think that she knows who you are?"

"I doubt it. We haven't done anything to really draw attention to ourselves." Seeing her disbelieving look, and knowing that she was thinking about their weekend antics, he sighed. "But if you want to stay close in case things turn ugly I'd appreciate it."

"I'll be there."

Before they could say anything else the door slid open to reveal a distressed looking Issei Hyoudou making his way to his seat. His only two friends, came to him and the Perverted Trio began to talk amongst themselves. Activating a listening spell he eavesdropped on them.

"Oh is that so? Is this a side effect of your hallucination about your imaginary girlfriend? Yuuma-chan was it?" Motohama teased.

"Wait. Do you seriously not remember Yuuma-chan?" Issei asked.

The other two members of the Trio looked at him with a mix of pity and sympathy, at his question.

"Like we said before, we seriously don't know her. Maybe you should get to your doctor for a check-up. Right Motohama?" Matsuda said.

"Yeah, you never introduced us to Yuuma-chan."

"You guys are just teasing me right?" Issei demanded, but saw their blank expressions and no matter how many times he asked the answer remained the same. "I definitely remember introducing her to you. You guys said things like 'How come a beauty like her is Ise's girlfriend!?' and 'There must be a system error happening in the world…Ise, you haven't done anything illegal, have you?' and other comments."

The teacher walked in mid-rant. "Hyoudou-san please take a seat. None of us care to hear any delusions that you might be having."

Leo smirked as the defeated boy sat down, keeping the eavesdropping spell up he heard his muttering. "What's going on? It's as if Yuuma never existed. It's as if the time I spent with Yuuma-chan never happened. Like these two said, it feels like it was just my imagination. There's no record of her on my phone, but I know it was there! Was it deleted? Who did it? That can't be! There's no way I would delete it and I haven't misplaced my phone to let someone else do it! So how's it gone?"

He disabled the listening spell, wondering if they were better off erasing the boy's memory. "Alright everyone." The teacher said. "We have another student joining us."

The door slid open to reveal the familiar form of Yuuma Amano, and it took all he had not to laugh at the expression that Issei had on his face.

"Hi everyone." Yuuma greeted with a smile on her face. "I'm Yuuma Amano. Please treat me well." Following a short introduction she bowed.

There was a crash near him as Issei stood so quickly he knocked over his desk. "Yuuma-chan!" The boy cried. "Remember me? You're boyfriend Issei?"

Silence. Everyone stared at the boy for several moments. He couldn't help it, he laughed. His was the straw that broke the camel's back and everyone began to laugh at his outburst.

Yuuma herself look frightened at the outburst, teary eyes and weak. "Ano. I don't know you at all."

"Yuuma!" Issei cried once more.

"That's enough Hyoudou-san." Leo said, his voice cutting through the laughter. "Clearly she doesn't know you, and you're beginning to scare her."

Several of the girls in the class leapt to her defense, threatening the boy if he continued to harass her.

"Why don't you take a seat now, Amano-san." The teacher said gently. "Where do you want to sit?"

"Leo!" Yuuma said, waving to him energetically a smile on her face. To everyone who saw her they would think it innocent and full of happiness, but to him and he could see the maliciousness behind it. Her eyes screamed "Payback, you bastard."

"You bitch." He mouthed, realizing that by her knowing his name his peaceful-ish life here at school was about to turn hectic. He had read enough of Azazel's manga collection to realize that his life was about to become a stereotypical school harem.

Before Issei could even open his mouth to complain, or his other pervert friends say anything he hit all three with a discrete but powerful compulsion.

"Well, there's an open seat behind him." The teacher said. _One of these days I need to pay enough attention to remember our teacher's name._ Leo mused. He knew it began with an M, but it wasn't important enough for him to remember the rest.

* * *

The day passed by quickly, Issei shooting him dark looks and glaring at him out of the corner of his eye. Leo ignored it all, as the boy didn't rate as a threat unless his sacred gear went berserk, and every time the boy glared at him, he amused himself with the scene of Vali mercilessly beating her rival into the ground. At the end of the day Hyoudou tried to confront him, but he cast another compulsion on the boy making him turn around and walk out the room.

Luckily Tomoe, didn't seem to be able to sense his power as she was being distracted by some of the other girls in the class. A few minutes later the knight was leading him to the Student Council Room, Cornelia trailing behind them invisible and completely undetectable to any means. "Excuse me." Tomoe said knocking on the door to the room.

"Enter." Sona answered, as Tomoe opened the door. "Ah Tomoe-san, Aurelianus-san. Welcome, please sit down." Sona said gesturing to the open seat in front of her as well as the single open seat in the U shaped formation that the other members of the Student Council were sitting at.

"Tomoe-san, you're work for the day is at your station." Tsubaki gestured towards the open seat in the formation. "Please take a seat Aurelianus-san."

Sitting across from Sona he couldn't help but compare his current seating to that found in Azazel's study. Everything was set for maximum psychological impact, and a lesser person would've squirmed in his seat under her fierce gaze. "Tell me Aurelianus-san, do you play chess?" Sona asked with interest.

"I prefer Settlers of Catan or Axis and Allies when it comes to strategy games, but I believe that I'm a fair hand in chess."

"Good, I find that I can tell much about a person over a game." Sona said, as her Queen put a board on the desk in front of them. "Would you prefer white or black?"

"White." Leo said arranging his pieces. "Pawn to d4."

"Knight to F6"

"Pawn C4"

"Pawn G6

"Pawn to F3"

"Pawn to D5"

"Pawn to D5. White takes Black." Leo said coolly. Though it was the first piece taken it was just a pawn and even if he was currently winning he knew not to underestimate the woman in front of him.

"Knight to D5. Black knight takes white pawn." Sona said moving her piece.

The opening exchange was done was the two tried to read each other, planning dozens of contingencies and attempting to stay several steps of each other.

50 moves into the game he found himself losing by a single piece, his forces spread across the board. 75 moves in he could see the slight tension in her shoulders as she stared at the board with laser like intensity. The game ended on his move at 93.

During the last 5 moves he had seen the disbelief beginning to form on her face as she realized that she wasn't going to be able to win. "Draw." Leo said. leaning back into his seat. Sona stared at the board for several minutes in silence, while draws weren't that rare it was only in the professional tournament that it happened. He was aware of the crowd that had formed around them, the rest of the Student Council having abandoned their duties to watch the long game between the two of them.

It started as a soft giggle, a sound that was completely foreign on their leader that they all pinched themselves to make sure that they weren't hallucinating. "Hahaha." Sone laughed staring at the board.

 _I think she's lost it._ Maybe ending the game in a draw was a blow to her pride and she would order her peerage to attack him. While he doubted she was that petty, she was also a devil and he readied a holy hand grenade just in case. "Leopold-san." Sona said. He noticed how she was using his first name. From what he had gotten from the various profiles put together on her, she had never lost a chess match in recent history. Not even a draw. A part of him was happy that he had managed to accomplish something that professionals couldn't even do but at the same time he kind of felt like she was about to stand and declare him her eternal rival.

"Leo." He corrected, while he had no problems with his full name, he preferred the shortened form.

"Leo-san. I insist that you use my name as well." Sona smiled, resetting her pieces. "I'm sorry I've taken so much of your time, but I haven't had a challenge like that in a long time."

"That's high praise coming from a woman recognized by the FIDE as a Grandmaster."

"You know about that?" She asked in disbelief.

"Of course." Leo scoffed. "Information is power, and I made sure to do my research on you before I signed the papers to finalize my transfer. To tell you the truth I was hoping to play a game against you since your victory."

"Oh what do you know?" Sona asked challengingly. From the corner of his eye he could see the dark looks that her newest pawn was shooting him.

"Sona Shitori. ELO rating 2962 highest ever recorded score. Winner of the Women's World Championship. One of only 30 women to be recognized as Grandmaster. Along with Rias Gremory your families have control over the entire school as well as much of the surrounding land."

"It seems like you do know some things." Sona smirked. "I was going to ask you this but got distracted by our game. Tell me Leo-san, how are you adjusting to life here?"

"Is this something you ask every student?"

She nodded. "It's our job to make sure that you transition smoothly into our school. To facilitate this we provide a variety of services to transfer students. It's been a week since you arrived here, enough time for you to have gotten a feel for the school. If it makes you feel any better, I was planning on asking Hjördís-san to come here tomorrow."

"I suggest go or shogi." Leo warned. "She has little patience for chess. But to answer your question your question. While it has been a dramatic change from the private tutoring that I had academically speaking I'm ahead of my peers."

"Oh?" Sona prompted with a raised brow.

"Being under private tutors I didn't realize that both Cornelia and I were learning under at an advanced pace. The Academy's education is top notch according to several reviews but you're still held back by the slowest student." Leo clarified. "However the biggest change is adjusting to all of the other students."

"Is it because of your private tutors?" Sona asked.

Leo nodded. "Growing up neither one of us had many opportunities to mingle with anyone our age."

"Is it overwhelming?" Sona asked.

He shook his head. "No, just different. Our first day might have been classified as overwhelming as everyone jumped to task us questions, but since then things have calmed down. It'll still be a while before I get used to this, but I will." He lied, having no intention of staying here after the job was complete.

"I'm glad that things are going well and that you're adjusting to our school." Sona said. "And I'd suggest taking this as an opportunity to make new friends."

"I will." Leo answered, before putting his pieces back on the board. "Until then can I interest you in another game?"

Her smile turned predatory, as she shifted the board so that she was white now. "Pawn to E4."


	6. Act I: Suspicions, Plots, and Devils

Chapter 6

"I'll be taking my leave then." Leo said, standing up and backing away from the chess board. They had been playing for hours, the setting sun a perfect symbol to set the mood.

"Good night, Leo-san. Get home safely, and thank you for indulging me." Sona said standing and extending her hand.

"Trust me, the pleasure was all mine." He grinned, looking at the score board. Both of them were matched at six points, ½ point for each draw and they played 12 games. Taking her hand he shook it firmly, giving a slight bow. "After all it's not every day that one gets to play with the best female chess player in the world."

She smiled at his compliment, a light almost faint blush on her cheeks. "Well, my door is always open to you, should you wish to play again."

"Likewise." Saying that he took his leave, sliding the door closed behind him. For a moment the smile lingered on her face, before she shifted into her trademark stoic behavior. "Ruruko." She commanded.

"Yes Kaichou?" Her pawn asked.

Holding out her hand she stripped off the invisible glove that she had worn, having captured some of Leo fingerprints. Then she gently floated the last set of pieces he had handled into the air and sealed them in individual bags. "Head to the local police station, and have them run these for prints. Hypnotize them to do it as quickly as possible. With all these pieces as well as the glove they should be able to compile it into a full print. If they can't at least with a partial it'll give us some direction."

"Hai." She nodded, getting ready to depart.

"Momo, Reya. Did you get anything with your scans?"

Reya stood up and addressed her King. "I subtly probed at him, and each time the probe failed to pierce his defenses."

"He destroyed them?" Sona asked knowing that there was a difference between actively destroying a probe and it failing to pierce the defenses of the target.

"No, they seemed to run into some sort of defensive barrier." Reya explained. "I tried to take a subtler approach using the faintest of magics, and was partially successful. I was able to detect what I believe to be power suppressor items, on his wrist as well as his throat, a bracelet and necklace most likely. I also picked up on what I believe to be several extradimensional storage items, a dozen single use instant teleportation items, and 2 wands loaded with single action spells."

"Seems like our kouhai, is ready to run in case things get too hot for him." Tsubaki commented. Sona nodded, a dozen teleportation circles was overkill as tracking magics failed to follow the person through and identify locations after 3 transports. "The extradimensional storages items are standard things that adventurers carry with them, and those two wands are probably his fall back weapons as all they're doing is unleashing the stored magic rather than taking it from him. The power suppressor items, now that is unusual."

"Indeed. Those have to be tailored to the individual and are quite expensive to produce." Sona said. "It's too bad that we couldn't see them, knowing what kind of material it was created from would give us an idea of what kind of resources that he has access to, as well as narrow down the list of people capable of producing them."

After finishing her report Reya sat down and Momo stood up. "While Reya was subtly probing and scanning his clothing, I was doing my best to get a judge of his powers as well as race." Sona nodded, she expected nothing less from her two bishops. "I was able to determine that he is human, though there is a great deal of holy light flowing through him."

"A holy sword wielder?" Tomoe asked. As a knight she knew about the Church's greatest exorcists and how they wielded powerful holy swords. A key requirement was the ability for the body to generate and circulate holy energy. The more your body produced the higher your compatibility would be with a holy weapon, and some of the legendary weapons such as the Excaliburs and Ascalon, required a minimum level before they even judged if you were worthy enough to use them.

"I wouldn't be surprised." Momo answered. "The holy element was densely packed and flowing through him."

"Is it possible that he's an exorcist?" Sona asked.

"There's a chance. Heaven and the Vatican wouldn't be able to ignore someone with that much holy element flowing through them."

"I don't think he's a holy sword wielder." Tomoe countered. "His hand didn't have the calluses that one gains with sword training."

"It's possible he's a Dragoon or an Aria." Tsubasa pointed out, referring to the class of exorcists that fought primarily with ranged weapons, and those that fought using verses of the Bible. "With that much holy element in him he might be able to use the Bow of Jonathan. But there have been no sightings of knights." She said. Knights was the technical term for exorcists whose primary focus was close ranged combat, though many of them carried small and discrete light pistols, just as Dragoons often carried shorter light swords.

"He might be a scout." Sona mused. "And Cornelia might be his knight."

"She's not human, but I don't think she's an angel." Her bishops both spoke up.

"Were you able to figure out which Sacred Gear he has?" Their King asked.

Both shook their heads. "Sorry Kaichou." Momo apologized. "But I think that he's already awakened it."

"Hmmm." Sona pondered. "There goes that option. I can't exactly lure him to us with promised to help him unlock his powers if he's already done so." Looking out the window she saw the sun finally setting. "Best to bunker down and set up for the long game."

"Tomoe." She said. "Did he have any reaction when you used Sitri instead of Shitori to call him earlier?"

"No Kaichou." Her knight answered.

"It's possible that he didn't notice the slip up as the pronunciation of the two names only has minor differences in the syllabic stress." She contemplated. "It's also possible that he already knows about our real identity and is playing innocent in order to draw us out." A savage smile blossomed on her face. "Either way the future looks to be quite interesting. And he is without a doubt 10x the challenge that the Ape poses."

"Do you want him to join us?" Tsubaki inquired.

"I don't know yet." Sona admitted. "Right now continue to gather information on him. Once we know a little more about him I'll be able to make my decision."

"Hopefully we are able to find something, on him." She continued. "I haven't told Rias about my suspicions yet, as she would no doubt draw her brother into this and eventually my sister."

"And also because you enjoy a challenge." Tsubaki said.

"That I do." She smiled staring at the now empty chess board. A wave of her hand later and a new set of pieces appeared, this time bearing her image as king and her peerage with their respective pieces. Across the board the black king took the shape of Leo and the Queen, Cornelia. "And Leopold Aurelianus is shaping up to be one of my greatest conquests."

* * *

Meanwhile Leo had already teleported to where he and Cornelia were staying and after briefing her on what had happened they both headed to their respective workshops. When he got to his shop the first thing that he did was set the time dilation to 24:1 meaning 24 hours inside for every one hour on the outside. As soon as that was done he moved to the receiving room, where all incoming packages and shipments were stored. Smiling at the sight of hundreds of copper and silvery zinc blocks he knew that he had his work cut out for him, but before that he went to his mailbox and check for a response from Njall Vidarr, who ran the import/export business of Nidavellir.

Breaking the seal on the letter he skimmed it over, before putting it into his pocket. The letter was what he had expected, as Njall and he had done business many times before. After the pleasantries and greetings the dwarf had opened up with a 15:1 exchange rate for his imperial gold to Uru, as well as giving a date and meeting place in order to further conduct negotiations. Hell the dwarf knew that there was no way he'd settle for a 15:1 ratio of imperial gold to Uru. He'd settle for nothing less than 8:1 and even that was high. A part of him really regretted not buying that store of Mithril when it was on sale, but there were other legendary metals that were equivalent. Dismissing it he opened the Abyss Auction catalogue and ran through the offers, idly marking certain raw materials while putting in bids for others. When he had finished he took a hand cart and began to load several bricks of copper and zinc which he would be using to form the cases of his new bullets.

Now normally you'd need to melt the copper before adding zinc to create brass, all the while taking out the impurities, but with alchemy the process was much simpler. The copper he was using was Nidavellir certified 99.9% pure, the same with the zinc, and saved him a lot of time. Placing both the copper and the zinc in the middle of a large transmutation circle, he made sure that his calculations were correct before pumping power into the circle.

In a flash of light both the piles of material were replaced by thousands of identical and empty cartridge casings. Each was perfect and had no imperfections in them that could lead to the cases being breached during firing. Later he'd take them and individually fortify them so that they could handle his hot loads. Besides the cases was a solid block of waste, all the imperfections that existed in the metal had been removed and forced into this block. Eventually he would take this block and the hundreds of others like it and using alchemy see if he could split it into its pure base elements, and hopefully he'd be able to salvage a bit of material.

Taking the cases he measured them just to make sure that they were the required 3.900 inches he required. His work allowed for no failures and the last thing he needed was for one of his rounds to not chamber. Best to triple measure that way there were no accidents out in the field. Happy with the results he got he stored them in a container and pulled out a box full of brass that had already been reinforced with magic. These he sprayed with a light coating of lubricant before setting them up for priming.

For the next several hours he primed and flared the cases, and once he was done with them they were set to the side having been divided into several groups. Next he brought out the powder he used, filling each one with 235grs, followed by taking out the projectiles. They were almost visually the same to one another, each having a long boat tail at the end, a very small and pointed meplat, and a secant ogive but what differentiated them from the others was the various colors that the tips were painted. Some were unpainted signifying ball ammo, green for tracer, red for incendiary and some were a mix of colors, but the one that he was most interested in was the black tips. Well black tips was a bit misleading as the tip wasn't black but silvery grey, however the sabot that held the projectile was black. These didn't shoot lead copper jacketed bullets but rather saboted light armor penetrator tungsten projectiles.

The reason for using this was because of intent. These bullets were created with the intended purpose of piercing through the toughest armors, and he used this as a basis for their enchantments. Instead of layering the concept of Piercing onto them he merely fortified it a thousand fold, taking the bullet's abilities to the absolute pinnacle. Sure he could've done the same with any other bullet as they still had the idea of piercing and killing the target from their conception, but these because they were conceived to pierce through defenses were much easier to enchant.

The bullets were seated, the powder compressed, and the cases crimped before he checked each completed cartridge over to make sure the overall length matched exactly what he wanted. For several hours he did this restocking his supplies to peak capacity, and when he was finally done he this area of the workshop to go to the war room.

A massive table dominated the bulk of the room, and atop it was a map of Kuoh with various 3-D models of key buildings such as Azazel's home, the Academy, the abandoned church, and the various locations that the Sitri and Gremory peerage called home.

From the scouting reports Azazel had given him, he had been able to also map out the various people that had scheduled contracts with the devils. Like he had told Sona earlier, information was power and he would win this war. He knew what she was doing, saw the bait that she had dangled in front of him. He had felt the subtle probing of her bishop's magics. How her knight said Sitri instead of Shitori, and her attempt to ferret out information. He smiled, down at the table.

In addition to the various models it also had his troop movement, in this case Cornelia's golem corp. transporting the various golems had been a chore though it was done easily, but the results spoke for themselves. He now had 250 mini golems placed throughout the city hiding everywhere from sewers, to buried in the dirt. These golems weren't any larger than an action figure, but when given the command they would automatically resize themselves to their original 15ft.

She may have been a chess prodigy but war and chess had very little in common. You couldn't pull off flanking maneuvers in chess, couldn't drop enemies in behind her lines, and most of all you couldn't use their fear and terror against them. At times like this he felt like he should get a cat to stroke while contemplating his stratagems, but Lia hated felines in general. He wasn't even allowed to puff on a cigar anymore as she didn't like the smell, and he valued her above his desire for a smoke. Maybe he should get a dog?

Sona's choice of peerage exemplified her fighting style, she relied on copious amounts of information on the enemy to plan effective strategies and counterstrategies, but in war information was a scarce resource. Each one of her peerage members was a scalpel, but they would fall apart as the slightest sign of chaos. She had chosen her subordinates to fight and triumph in rating games, not real life frontline warfare. Individually each of her members lacked the stopping power required to put down or hold the line against a surprise attack from a powerful opponent that she didn't account for.

Conjuring another model to represent the golem troops he placed it in the school. While difficult it wouldn't be impossible for them to place a few to act as a distraction in case they needed to escape. Sona's tactical genius was easy enough to account for, and for all her skills and strategies she was predictable. Gremory on the other hand was harder to plan against. While she was nowhere near as tactically minded as Sona, she was no slouch. The only thing working in his favor was the fact that most of her peerage was borderline power-types and she had only one technique-type.

Looking at the far wall that had pictures of both heiresses and their peerages his eyes narrowed on the Gremory's. The technique type could easily be dealt with, all his research said that like most knights Gremory's focused on close range combat, using their sacred gear Sword Birth to capitalize on enemy weaknesses. A light round in the leg would drastically decrease the knight's mobility and making them easier to deal with, or he could lure them into an area of his choosing, carefully laced with caltrops to halt their rapid movement, his last option was to go with a wide spread attack that they had no chance of dodging. Overall her knight's thereat level was low. Her rook wouldn't be a problem either as the foolish girl had sealed off most of her powers, his rifle could turn her into mincemeat, her rook enhanced defenses offering all the protection of paper against enchanted bullets. Threat level low. The queen would be a pain to deal with as she was Barakiel's daughter and no harm could befall her. He could temporarily seal her in a pocket dimension, that would be the easiest way to deal with her. Threat level medium due to complications in her subduction. Once those three were dealt with Gremory's defeat would be child's play. He'd capitalize on her clan's caring nature, hurting her peerage would drive her into a rage and make her attacks sloppy. He had nothing to fear from the power of destruction if her aim was completely off. She would likely be able to fire off a few fully powered shots before she tired herself out and then it would be checkmate, a single bullet to the heart. Threat level low.

Even with all these plans he would've preferred the job to go smoothly, resulting in nothing more than him getting a paycheck before packing up and moving from here.

However there were several loose ends to tie up before they could call this complete. Who ordered the Fallen to assassinate Issei? What was their endgame? While he had a gut feeling on who ordered the Fallen to kill the boy he couldn't prove anything.

Now though he had to deal with a possible rampaging Red Dragon Emperor. No doubt the boy would be approached by Gremory within the next few days, who would then use the current situation to draw him to her side. The last thing he needed was for the boy to find out that Yuuma Amano was really the one to almost kill him and go on a quest for revenge. If he did Leo would put a bullet into him before he even realized he was there. The idea of putting him down before Gremory could approach him was actually quite appealing. Staging an accident would be no trouble, nor would be hiring the local gangs to attack him. A mugging gone wrong? Or perhaps he should fabricate evidence that the boy had finally crossed over the line into criminal behavior. After all he already had such a terrible reputation at school and in the community that the idea of him snapping and sexually assaulting someone was easily believable. If he went that route he'd need to doctor a few pictures that would've served as Hyoudou's trophies, before the boy returned to reality and realized his mistake. One suicide note later, a length of rope, and the situation would be resolved. It wouldn't be the first time that he had staged a death, though normally it was something he was paid to do.

Hmmmm. Decisions. Decisions.

In the end though he decided to shelve any plans for assassinating the current host of the Red Dragon Emperor for the simple fact that Vali would be angry at him for stealing her fight. The girl was a complete battle-maniac and would demand that he took the place of her rival. Not that it would be much of a fight anyways, as Hyoudou posed as much a threat to Vali as an ant against a tank. The two were completely incomparable. While he may have decided not to kill the boy right now, he still planned several contingencies to be used if the boy ever became a threat.

With that done, his basic objectives set and plans to bring them about created he left the war room and headed back to the library. Ars Goethica, the grimoire that he had purchased just a few days ago lay on the largest table next to reams of blank paper that he would use to sketch out and take notes while reading. He devoted the next six days to pouring over the manuscript, and even then he barely managed a fifth of it, as the amount of arcane knowledge held within the book threatened to burn out his brain. Reading a grimoire wasn't like reading a regular spell book, the grimoire literally transferred knowledge into the reader's brain as well as their magic. Overexert yourself and you'd end up a pile of smoldering ash. He would need to rest for several days and limit his casting to weak spells in order to fully recover but when he did he could continue his study of the grimoire.

* * *

Soon enough though the time came for him to leave his workshop, and after making sure that everything was properly fixed and he had no orders coming in he sealed the rooms and left the pocket dimension. 7 hours had passed in the real world, and he arrived just in time to see the sun beginning to rise.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" Cornelia said, wrapping her arms around him. "I wonder what it must feel like from Heaven, Mother told me that it was an indescribable feeling."

"It is beautiful." Leo agreed, basking in the warmth that it brought about. "Though try to remember we're in Amaterasu's domain."

She chuckled, knowing exactly what he meant by that. "She still scares you doesn't she?"

The slight stiffening in his posture told her all that she needed to know. Taking her arms she spun him around, snuggling into her chest as he wrapped his arms around her. "I love you." He said placing a kiss on her forehead.

"I love you too." She answered. The moment was picture perfect, and neither one wanted to break it, but they had work to do.

"Best to get ready for school." Leo sighed, none too eager to separate from her.

"No choice." She grumbled, leaving his embrace and moving towards her room. Minutes later they were both dressed in their uniforms, Leo as always the very picture of wickedly cultured, his uniform made of fine materials and everything about him meticulously combed and pressed. Cornelia had discretely lengthened her skirt as she did not like how short it was, and she had no intention of giving anyone a free show should the wind blow or she take walk up the stairs.

"Sone Sitri is going to call you in today after school." He reminded.

"I'll try to play nice." Lia grinned.

"Please do. If given the choice I'd prefer to be on good terms with the Sitri clan over Gremory." Leo said. "I'll watch our target later on today while you're being interrogated by Sitri."

"Alright. Do you want some of my golems as backup?" She asked.

He shook his head. "There shouldn't be any need for them." Saying that he wrapped an arm around her waist and guided her out to the garage, once again taking Azazel's Mercedes to school. This time he drove normally, almost sedately as the two traded idle chatter and enjoyed each other's presence. When they pulled up to the lot they saw Hyoudou Issei being beaten by the kendo club, a fake and innocent smile on Yuuma's face as she saw her 'ex-boyfriend' being pummeled into the ground with shinais.

"Are you planning on continuing with that club?" Leo deadpanned seeing them begin to beat the other two members of the perverted trio.

"Of course." She answered. "Their forms are quite sloppy and I feel like it my duty to help educate them in the fine art of the blade."

"Noblesse Oblige?" He asked with a raised brow.

"It's the duty of those who are better to act with generosity to those underneath." She said haughtily.

He shot her a questioning look, knowing what she was spouting and what she was sawing were completely contradictory. In all the time he had known her she was more likely to demean those underneath her rather than attempt to help them. She also wouldn't hesitate to seeing the impoverished as a sign of weakness to be exploited for her gain.

Shaking his head in disbelief he continued to watch as the Hyoudou Issei was beaten, none of the teachers intervening. After about 5 minutes he was nothing more than an unrecognizable pulp, a mass of black and blue that oddly twitched. "Show's over." He said heading to class.

Once again class was boring, and he drifted in and out of consciousness. When the final bell had rung, Tomoe had asked Cornelia to come with her to Student Council Room. He shot his partner a looking reminding her not to kill anyone before getting up from his seat.

"Kyaaa!" Several girls and boys squealed from the doorway. Turning he saw the so called "Princess" of Kuoh, Kiba Yumi, moving towards Hyoudou Issei. She was a beautiful girl with slate grey eyes and long blonde hair that reached her waist. The Kuoh uniform suited her stunning figure and the corset emphasized her ample chest while the short skirt showed off the long and toned legs. _She's definitely built for speed._ He thought trying not to stare.

"What's Yumi-sama doing going near that pervert for?" One of the girls asked.

"Stay away from Hyoudou! You'll be defiled!" Another girl screamed, every female in the room nodding their heads in agreement.

"He must be blackmailing her! Right? I mean that's the only reason a loser like him could get a beauty like her!" The thought passed through several people's minds as they glared at the pervert.

"Kill. Kill. Kill." Several of the male members chanted, glaring at Issei with all the fury they could muster. Needless to say that if looks could kill then not even a pentaquark of the boy would've been left in existence.

"Hi." Yumi greeted, a thousand watt smile on her face. "Hyoudou Issei, right?"

The boy could do nothing more than nod dumbly while trying to keep his mouth closed.

"Great." She beamed. "My club president, Rias Gremory, would like a word with you. Please follow me."

As the two brushed past him, he purposefully knocked himself into Hyoudou, and in the brief moment of contact slapped several listening charms on to the boy.

"Watch it." The boy said, only to falter as Leo glared at him, as if he were beneath him.

"Kyaaa."

"The Ice Prince."

"Please glare at me."

"He's so handsome." One girl said dreamily.

Inwardly he sighed, wondering just how he got the nickname Ice Prince. It wasn't like he was that cold to his classmates. Maybe it was because of his hair?

Either way he stepped outside the class and began to make his way out to the courtyard, ignoring the glances and looks that were shot his way. Arriving at a relatively isolated spot he drew his cloak laden with invisibility charms and pulled up the hood, disappearing from view. Just in case someone had seen him disappear the activation of the cloak sent out a brief pulse of magic wiping the memories of everyone close by clean of the past 10 seconds, more than enough to move. Rather than actively use magic which could be detected he activated one of the enchantments on his shoes and leapt to the top of the school, landing lightly on the roof, his gaze directed at the Old School Building.

Even if he didn't have any information about the location of the devils, it was quite obvious that this served as someone's base, with the amount of demonic magic emanating from the structure not to mention the amount of protections that surrounded the building. Reaching into his pocket he withdrew a pair of old fashioned glasses with various lens that could be moved into position to act as magnifiers. Flipping through the various lenses he finally found the one the proper combination that allowed him to see the entire ward structure. "Flimsy." He muttered cycling through another combination to make sure that there were none that he missed. Analyzing the ward structure he isolated the ones that prevented eavesdropping and spying, his accelerated thought processes already devising the needed formula to counteract her defenses. A few minutes later he managed to break through her defenses, and lay prone on the roof, drawing his rifle out of his dimensional storage. Once the wards were nullified it was child's play to send a quick burst of magic out like an active sonar getting the position of everyone in the building. While there was a chance that the pulse would be detected especially by a good bishop, he wasn't too worried, trusting in his cloak and numerous masking and invisibility charms to protect him. At this point the only way someone would be able to find him was if they tripped over his prone form.

 _Got you._ He grinned detecting the 5 people in the room, the density of the demonic element a telltale sign of each person. Knight's demonic energy was focused in their legs granting their speed. A rook was dense and stagnant though it was in the entire body showing their powerful offense and defense. The queen embodied all the traits but not to the level of the specialized pieces and lastly the King's piece was located in the heart. Hyoudou's pitiful magic potential and life force was easily distinguishable from the supernatural beings that were in the room. "Black tips." He commanded his rifle, pulling the bolt back and chambering the conceptual bullet. His cheek firmly against the raised rest he looked down the sights the enchanted scope peeling away the various layers of sheetrock and wood to reveal the interior of the room.

His finger itched to take the shot, but he knew that it would give him nothing but trouble. Moving the crosshairs away from Rias' heart he focused in on Issei, keeping the boy in his sights as he triggered the listening charms.

Gremory looked like she had just gotten out of the shower, her alabaster skin had a faint sheen to it as a few drops of water rolled between her ample breasts. Her uniform clung to her skin emphasizing her curves. He snorted at the blatant manipulation, though acknowledged that this was probably the easiest way to manipulate the walking incarnate of perversity.

"Please enjoy." Akeno Himejima said coming from the attached kitchenette and placing a cup of tea in front of him. She placed several more cups in front of each person before putting the pot on the table.

"Ah. Thank you." Issei stammered, his face flush as he took the cup and quickly gulped it down, choking a moment later as the hot liquid made its way down his throat.

"Ufufufufu." Akeno giggled, placing a hand over her mouth. She took a seat next to Rias, and everyone sipped at their tea, occasionally staring at Hyoudou. The boy fidgeted under their gazes, the silence overwhelming, a classic psychological technique to help break a person.

Just as it looked like he was about to get up and run under the pressure Rias began. "Are you aware of why you were called here?" She crossed her arms underneath her bust pushing up her breasts as she leaned back into the chair.

That simple movement was enough to draw the boy's attention, a lecherous look on his face as he began to speak without even realizing it. "No."

She smiled. "I was wondering what you're greatest desire is."

"Huh?" He said stupidly.

"What is your greatest desire?" Rias repeated.

"TO BE A HAREM KING!" The boy declared proudly, shooting to his feet. If this weren't such a serious situation Leo would've face-palmed followed by shooting the fool. However he couldn't help but feel his jaw drop in disbelief. He knew that the boy was a self-proclaimed harem king, but still to think that was his greatest desire in life.

Akeno giggles, Yumi sweatdropped, Koneko stared at him like an insect to be squished, and finally Rias smiled at his enthusiasm. "Tell me. If I were to grant you your wish, what would you do?"

"Anything!" He nodded.

"Then tell me. Will you die for me?" She grinned darkly.

Issei froze, his entire body shivering. "What?"

"I asked if you would die for me?" Rias said.

"How-?" He stuttered.

"Don't you remember you're date with Yuuma Amano, this past weekend?" She asked.

"How do you know about that?" He whispered. "No one else believes me."

"Yuuma Amano. She came to you after school one day, asking you out on a date." Rias said. "Then after the date she stabbed you, leaving you for dead." The boy was growing paler with every word she spoke. "You've been dragged into a world that you're ill prepared for."

"Who are you?"

She smiled at him broadly before standing, her peerage following her lead. They towered over him, their shadows dancing in the dimming light. "Why my name is Rias Gremory, Heiress to the House of Gremory." Menacing bat-like wings sprouted from their back. "And I am a Devil."

Issei's eyes rolled back into his head, as he fainted.


	7. Act I: New Devils and Threats

Chapter 7

* * *

Author's Note: Shorter chapter but it has only been a week since my last update. I find this story so much easier to write as there are plenty of things I can draw inspiration from. On a serious note one of my reviewer's nightgale912 left this review.

"wow... While i'll be lying if i said that i don't like what you're doing here, i can't be sure if you're bashing or not Issei (even if it's evident you don't like him on some level); everything that has happened to him in your story, is par for the course for his life but since we're seeing it pretty much from the point of view of your character - Leo -, who obviously holds him as lower than dirt it's hard to see its kind of hard to see it as innocently painted as it was on the LN and the anime... well, that aside i'm really enjoying what you're doing here nice work though i'll like to share a few thoughs:

1 - Everything has been going TOO WELL for Leo so far, which means that Murphy is on the prowl which connects nicely on my next wall of text:

2 - My "It's a Trap! Run, Forrest! Run!" sensors have been running haywire for the last few chapters on something: I very much doubt that Sirzechs' Siscon extraordinaire (who i'm pretty sure in the original novel arranged in one way or another every single disaster that befell the members of Rias' peerage so that they will eventually fall in her hands as their "benevolent savior", before the author decided to lower the rating of his work and gloss everything over with shonen logic) hasn't bugged the hell and back of the entirety of Kuoh so that he may "protect and admire" (read stalk) his sister au naturel, ergo he should have picked up on Leo and co and is only planning on how to take advantage of everything... of course i may be overthinking it since your story has a more serious tone than the original material which makes what i said possible.

3 - Not a though but more a "you're doing an awesome job on this story but...", but... i kinda want to see what chapter 2 of Archer of the Void will look like... I don't know why i like Madan no Ou to Vanadis is pretty cliche but well... maybe it's done well? more or less..."

And I'd like to first thank him for the constructive criticism, and while I allayed his fears about bashing during a PM, I think it's best that I put it here as well so that everyone knows where I'm going from now on.

"To clarify things from the very beginning of the points that your brought up. While it may seem like overt bashing of Issei, I'm having Leo's character have a semi-normal disposition. If what Issei and the perverted trio did in real life they would be sued and taken to court, the fact that this isn't happening is part of his disdain for Issei. I won't spoil whether or not their relationship moves past this stage but they will continue to interact with one another. I honestly didn't like how it was portrayed in the LN and anime as I couldn't understand how they weren't suspended. I attributed this to Rias pulling some strings with her father who is the Director so that she could keep a close eye on Issei to scout him for her peerage.

2 - I completely agree with you with the Sirzechs part. While he may not have directly caused the events that led to Rias gaining her peerage members he most definitely played an indirect role. Akeno and Koneko are great examples of this. If you look on chapter 5 when Leo is talking with Dohnaseek you'l see a part where Dohnaseek is telling Leo that it's been hard to move his people in and out of the city due to all the guards that are on the perimeter. This is the extent of Sirzech's forces preventing anyone from getting in and out. There are no inner sleeper agents deployed in the city because he wanted Rias to have the illusion of being free when really he's got the city on lockdown as well as he can considering Kuoh is still under the Shinto Pantheon and they don't like devils. Once Leo and Cornelia teleported into the town they bypassed Sirzechs guards.

What you need to know is that this isn't your shounen harem story with an over the top pervert protagonist. No one realistically would be able to be like Issei without being arrested, something that I believe doesn't happen because of Rias' interest in getting him for her peerage.

Long Author's note. I apologize but this needed to be said. Please continue to review and send me your concerns.

* * *

"That fool." Leo said.

"Well I can't say that I'm surprised." Rias commented at Issei's downed form. "Though I do wish that he had a hardier constitution. Akeno if you would?"

"With pleasure." Akeno giggled, charging a bit of lightning through her hand.

"I meant gently." Rias rolled her eyes.

"Oh." Akeno deflated, lowering her hand. "I think I have some smelling salts in the kitchen." She left the room and came back within a minute, a small glass vial in hand. Removing the cork stopper she waved it under his nose, and the effect was almost instantaneous. The boy shot to life, his forehead almost colliding with Akeno's who took a step back just in time.

 _He looks completely out of it._ Leo thought seeing him look around wondering where he was.

"Are you okay?" Rias asked.

"Am I in Heaven?" Issei asked. Leo snorted at the irony of the question and the resulting pain that all the devils suffered from.

"Not quite." Rias said, her wings shifting, drawing Issei's eye to them. They bulged comically, as he collapsed into the chair once more.

"Are those real?" He asked.

"Of course." Rias scoffed. "Though your expression says that you don't believe what I'm saying. Well that can't really be helped as you were dragged into our world without any prior knowledge." Putting away her wings she took a seat once more, an action copied by her peerage. "Tell me do you remember your date with Yuuma last Sunday?"

She saw the memories flicker across his eyes, and nodded. "I thought so. Can you recall what happened at the end?"

"She stabbed me." Issei said haltingly.

"Yes she did, but think back what did she look like?" Rias said guiding him through his memory.

"Great big oppai." Issei said, gobsmacking everyone.

 _Calm down._ Leo thought to himself, forcing his finger away from the trigger, having already pulled it until it clicked for the first stage. _He's not worth the energy it takes to make a new bullet._ "I'd be doing the gene pool a favor by neutering him." He grumbled, further amusing himself by imagining Vali maiming him horribly.

The Gremory peerage was no better. "Pervert." Koneko spat, glaring at the boy. Yumi sweatdropped and looked away.

"What else do you remember?" Rias probed patiently.

"Black wings, a spear of light." Issei said distantly.

"Do you believe me now?" Rias questioned. Issei nodded his hand subconsciously rubbing his stomach as he remembered the pain of the wound. "Yuuma is a Fallen Angel, a former angel who served God. She fell to Hell because she had evil intentions. They are the enemy of Devil-kind and enjoy preying on humans."

"We." She said gesturing to herself and her peerage. "Are Devils, and have been at war with the Fallen Angels since ancient times. Devils and Fallen have been fighting each other for control of Hell, which has been split into two areas, one for Devils and the other for Fallen. The Devils form pacts with humans and receive their sacrifices to increase their strength. The Fallen on the other hand control humans to eliminate Devils. At this point the Angels come in to destroy these two races on God's orders, which creates the three forces. This has been going on since ancient times."

Issei had a dumbfounded expression as he tried to process everything that he was being told. "Wait what does this all have to do with Yuuma-san?"

"Yuuma, the girl that you took on a date a few days ago doesn't exist." Rias explained. "She's nothing more than a disguise a Fallen Angel used to get close to you. Those feelings that she told you she had, were all a lie. She played you like an instrument, toying with your feelings as she sought to accomplish her goal." Rias said.

Leo understood the manipulation, and saw where this conversation was going. _You're going to end up regretting your orders Azazel._ He thought grimly. The Governor should've taken his offer to put the boy down or at least reprogram his mind to prevent him from ever accessing his Sacred Gear. Now it was looking like the Devils were going to gain the Boosted Gear.

"Goal?"

"Yes. To kill you."

"What the Hell!" Issei stammered jumping to his feet. "Why would she want to kill me?"

"You mean for any other reason that she could." Rias asked raising a dainty brow. "Calm down, and please take a seat again." Reluctantly the boy sat back down. "It couldn't be helped. You were just born unlucky it seems, as there are many possessors that aren't killed."

"What do you mean, unlucky?"

"That day when she killed you do you remember what she said?"

He was silent for several minutes thinking back to that faithful encounter, his first girlfriend's final words forever burned into his mind. "You were a threat to us, so we decided to get rid of you early. If you want to hold a grudge, then hate the God who put the Sacred Gear inside you."

"Exactly. You have a power inside of you. She approached you on that date to check to see if the power you held was dangerous, and when she confirmed her findings, that you possessed a Sacred Gear, she tried to kill you. You posed a threat to the Fallen."

"But what's a Sacred Gear?"

At this Yumi spoke up. "Sacred Gears are irregular powers bestowed on certain humans. For example most of the people whose names are recorded in history are said to be possessors of a Sacred Gear."

"Most Sacred Gears can be used by society but there are some exceptional ones that can pose a threat to us. Ise raise your hand" Rias continued. When he hesitated she urged him on. "Do it quickly."

Slowly he raised his left arm. "Close your eyes and imagine the strongest thing that comes to mind." She paused letting him picture it. "Then imagine it, and imagine that person in a particular pose where they are the strongest." Another pause. "Now lower your arm slowly and stand up. Mimic that person, imagine it strongly, let the power fill you, don't hold anything back. There's no need to be embarrassed."

"Kamehameha!" Issei said thrusting his hand out, his face flush in embarrassment at doing this in front of people.

"Now open your eyes. Here in a place full of power, your Sacred Gear will be able to appear more easily."

Opening his eyes he closed them once more with a yelp, as a blinding flash emanated from his left hand. His left arm was covered in a red gauntlet, a gem like object embedded in the back. "What is this?" He stuttered staring wide eyed at his arm.

"It's a Sacred Gear." Rias said approaching him. "And it belongs to you." Taking the gauntlet in her hand she ran her fingers over the red metal. "The Fallen Angel, saw your Sacred Gear as a threat and tried to kill you."

"If she tried to kill me then how am I still here?" Issei demanded. "I remember being stabbed in the stomach. Dying."

"You called me while you were on the verge of death." She expounded, reaching into her pocket and removing a leaflet inscribed with a summoning circle. "This was given to you that day, and I was summoned through it."

"This is one of the leaflets we give out. This magic circle is used to summon Devils. These days there aren't many people who can draw this circle to summon us, so we give these leaflets to people who look like they would summon Devils. This magic-circle is safe and easy to use. That day, one of our familiars was disguised as a human and was handing them out in the business district. You got it at that time, Ise. After you were attacked by the Fallen Angel, you called me, wishing so hard that it summoned me. Usually my servants like Akeno and the others would be the ones to be summoned."

"When you summoned me, I saw you wounded but still alive. I knew right away that my suspicions were right, and you had a Sacred Gear. I was there to save you, to bring you with me, but you didn't need me to heal you."

"Wait, if you didn't heal me then who did?" Issei asked.

Rias shook her head. "I don't know. All I know is that once we were summoned a person was trying to escape with your body. You were still breathing so we knew you weren't dead, but before we could confront them they fled. We tried to pursue only to be attacked." Both she and Akeno grimaced as they remembered the bullets searing their skin. The shooter had toyed with them, giving them nothing more than superficial if not painful wounds when they could've easily killed them. The worst part had been the Holy Light that seeped into each of their wounds, while it wasn't enough to kill them instantly by the time they returned to the ORC club room to heal they were both suffering excruciating pain from Holy Light exposure. "I was hoping that you would be able to tell us who saved you."

"I don't know." Issei answered. "I didn't even know about Devils, Fallen and everything else until a few minutes ago."

"That's…unfortunate." Rias said, thinking about what this would mean for the future. She'd need to talk to Sona and hopefully together they would be able to determine who the new player in town was. "However just because you don't know who that person was doesn't mean that you can't give us a clue. Tell me do you know anyone affiliated with the Church?"

Issei was silent for several moments, thinking on the short list of people that he knew. "Well there was one guy, his father was a part of the clergy, but they moved away years ago."

"Do you remember his name?" Rias asked enticingly crossing her legs, inwardly smirking as the boy's attention was fixated on her.

"Shidou Irina." Issei answered dazedly.

 _This idiot is being lead around by the nose._ Leo sighed. Maybe it was all the sex he had with Lia and Kala, but he liked to think that he was immune to feminine wiles.

"Thank you." Rias said. "Now for why I called you here. Tell me Issei, what would you give to achieve your goal?"

"Anything!" Issei shouted.

This time Leo gave in and smashed his palm into his face. _Three times you've been asked that question and three times you answered the same way. You would think that after being stabbed after the first, and fainting at the second, you would change your answer._

 _Unrepentant pervert._ Both Leo and a certain cat thought at the same time.

Rias smiled at him. "Well then I have a proposition for you, a way for you to achieve your goal and for me to gain something as well."

"Is it my soul?" Issei said nonchalantly. "Because I'll trade it to grope oppai."

There were sometimes when a face palm wasn't enough…this was one of those times. If he wasn't focused on them, he'd be banging his head against the nearest wall, trying to get this memory out of his head. _How stupid is he that he would trade his immortal soul to a devil in exchange for groping some tits. Something he could do in a Red Light District or a Soap Land._

"No, Devils stopped trading in souls a long time ago. The Devil Marketing Teams moved us away from Soul Trading due to the desire for a more positive image. Not to mention that each person only has one soul and you can't have a thriving business when you take the person's only for of currency. Now we deal in commodities, money, services, items, things like that. This way we can get more from each person and we can contract the same person multiple times."

For the umpteenth time Issei was dumbstruck as Rias explained Hell's economy depended on humans. Not that Leo couldn't blame him, as he had a similar reaction the first time he found out about the Underworld's unique system.

"Really?"

"Really." Rias nodded. "Are you familiar with chess?" Waving her hand a chess board with several missing pieces appeared on the table in front of her.

"Only the bare minimum." Issei admitted.

"That's enough for now. Devils are broken into several different levels low, Mid, High, Ultimate, and finally Satan Class. Every High-class devil receives 15 pieces which they used to reincarnate the chosen people into Devils. These Devils take the form of a peerage which can be anything from a business like collective, to a family." She paused for dramatic effect. "To a harem."

"Harem?!" Issei screamed in amazement, blood dripping from his nose.

"They are quite common in the Supernatural world." Rias explained.

"So by being a High-class Devil I can have a peerage? A harem? One that does whatever I tell them?" The boy asked lewdly.

"Yes." Rias smiled. "And I'm offering you a chance to join me Issei Hyoudou. Become a Devil and fulfill your dream."

"I'll do it!"

Rias smiled at him triumphantly, taking her pawn pieces from the board. "Excellent, then please lay back and close your eyes." Once he had done so she placed a pawn against his chest and commanded. "I order, in my name Rias Gremory, you, Issei Hyoudou. I resurrect you back to this soil a my servant, and have you reborn as a Devil. You, my Pawn, be delighted with your new life!" Saying that the other 7 pawns flew towards him and as one all 8 of her Pawns sunk into his chest. Rias stared in disbelief unable to comprehend the fact that the boy in front of her had taken all of her pawn pieces to reincarnate. "You can open your eyes now."

"Huh? I don't feel any different." Issei said running his hands up and down his body.

"The changes are gradual, but by this time tomorrow you would've gained all the abilities of a Devil." Rias explained. "Now, go home and rest, you'll need your strength."

Whooping in delight, Issei left the room. A few minutes later both Yumi and Koneko left to fulfill their contracts for the night, leaving Akeno and Rias alone in the room. "You didn't tell him." Akeno pointed out.

"Of course not." Rias answered. "I wasn't exactly too sure how to tell him that he had no choice but to join me, lest he be hunted down by the Fallen and killed."

"Your manipulation could've easily been seen through by most others." Akeno warned. "It's only by the faintest of chances that the boy is perverted enough that you used his nature against him, and he didn't second guess you."

"A calculated risk." Rias answered waving her hand dismissively. "I wasn't lying about anything I told him."

"No, you just failed to mention how long it would take for him to actually reach the rank of High-Class Devil, as well as the fact that by being reincarnated into a Devil he's painted a target on his back for every Fallen, Angel, and Exorcist out there."

"He has nothing to fear. My peerage is my family." Rias said. "And I'll protect my family to the bitter end."

Leo snorted as he cancelled the listening charms and prepared to leave his vantage spot. _The girl is completely naïve. She says that she will protect them, but does she really understand what that entails? Will she sacrifice one to protect the rest? Kill an innocent to ensure their safety?_ Listening to her unsubtle manipulations as well as her naivety had left a bad taste in his mouth. He would bet everything he had that the girl had never killed in cold blood, would hesitate when it came to killing a real live person, and that hesitation would cost her. _Though this is a perfect example of Gremory Greed._ Greed, the sin that every Gremory seemed to embody, and it was that sin that would make sure that no one laid a hand on her peerage, only she could toy with them. With his rifle packed away he jumped down from the roof, and made his way to the Student Council Room, he needed to get Lia before he could drive home.

 _Please don't let her have slaughtered them._ He prayed, as he approached the door. Knocking on it he paused for a moment, before sliding it open. Sona's peerage was sitting at their desks taking care of their paperwork, while Sona and Lia stared at each other, a chess board between them. he glanced at the scoreboard behind Sona noting the point differences. Sona had 5 points in her favor to Lia's 2, and they were now on their 8th game. A clicking timer slowly wound down, as Lia turned to the board in frustration. Gritting her teeth she moved her pawn forward promoting it to a Queen.

Sona didn't even smirk as her plan came together, having purposefully left an opening for Cornelia to rush towards in hope of promoting her pawns to Queens. Seeing the opening Cornelia had foolishly rushed into it, gaining tunnel vision as she focused on that one aspect of her strategy, never seeing it as a feint as Sona positioned her rooks for the kill.

"Checkmate." Leo smirked, drawing attention to him. It seemed that both had been totally engrossed in the game an hadn't even heard him enter.

"Leo-san." Sona greeted, getting up from her seat and moving to the scoreboard. She erased the 6 and put a 7 down.

"Hello Sona-san." He greeted. "I trust that Cornelia hasn't been any trouble."

She shook her head. "No problem at all. She answered my questions quite easily, and there are no issues that need to be addressed. She has already chosen a club, and after that she indulged me in a game."

"I see." He answered, pointing at the board. "4 draws and 5 wins?"

"Correct." Sona nodded. "On that note I have some business with you Leo-san."

"Oh?" He raised one of his carefully manicured eyebrows. "What did I do that the Student Council needs to get involved?"

"It's what you didn't do." Sona said, clearing her throat. "I'm sure that it's just an oversight on your part a forgotten thought in the midst of your transfer, but it's a requirement that all students be part of at least one club."

"I am part of one." He answered.

She raised one of her own brows. "May I ask which one?"

"Going home at 3 Club." He replied flippantly. She stared at him, a hard look that would've made most cower in fear. Tsubaki who had moved to flank her King looked unsure, having never heard him make a joke. The same could be said for those who were also Year 2 students, as he had a reputation of being aloof, slightly cold, and serious. "That was a joke."

"I see." Sona said, shuffling some papers. "You understand that one needs to be part of a Teacher sponsored club or one that has an Advisor, correct?"

"Is that so?" Leo drawled. "Then would you mind telling me who you're advisor is?"

"Ms. Saegusa, though regretfully her other duties do not allow for her to spend too much time directly advising us. However she has received no complaints about our behavior and does not directly interfere in our business. She views us as a model for what students working together can achieve without adult supervision." She delivered flawlessly.

 _Pretty words._ Leo snorted, odds were that they had hypnotized the poor woman up to her eyeballs and she didn't know anything about the current state of affairs. Something they could get away with as together Gremory and Sitri controlled the Academy. Not that he could really complain as he had the habit of compelling first, rather than ordering the person directly. After all people did a much better job when they think that they wanted to do it, and it was imperative to their continued health. "I work after schools." Leo said.

"Then I'm afraid you're going to have to quit your job." Sona answered pushing up her glasses. "You were never authorized a work permit from the school."

They were both silent, staring at each other in defiance, the tension thick. Leo smirked, "then I'll do my best to find a club to join."

"I wish you luck. This late in the year, few clubs are accepting members. The consequences for failure to find one to join would be…unpleasant."

He nodded in acknowledgment. "Come on Lia."

* * *

Sona watched them go, inwardly smirking. _Now that I've shown him the stick, I need to find a carrot. A position on the Student Council is a good start, but permission to set up a workshop atop the intersecting ley lines would have any Magician salivating and chomping at the bit to please me._

"Ano. Kaichou?" Saji spoke up, suppressing a shiver at the terrifying gleam in her eyes. "What are you trying to do with Aurelianus-san?"

"Leo-san and I are currently embroiled in another game. One whose stakes are quite a bit higher." Sona answered, the chess pieces morphing to resemble her peerage, Leo and Cornelia. "Check." She smiled moving her Queen to threaten the Black King. "Now let's see how you deal with this." _Will he sacrifice some pieces to fortify himself? In this case some information about his true origins? Or will he do something else? Something that I haven't accounted for. No, that's impossible everything will play out just as I predicted._ She thought to herself, unaware that the sin of Pride that she embodied was placing everything in jeopardy.

No truer statement has been said then "Pride comes before a Fall."

"Reya, Momo, Tsubaki." She ordered. "Tomorrow I want you to positions yourselves at the School Gates. Whenever you see one of the Club leaders or Advisors compel them to reject any application that Leo might submit. We'll cut off any options that he might have, and force him into a position favorable for us."

"You mean as a member of the Council." Tsubaki said. The silence told her exactly what her king was thinking.

"It's still going to be a few days before we get the results back from fingerprint analysis." Ruruko said. "It was recently sent to IAFIS."

"I've put out feelers with my family." Tomoe said. "If he's part of our world they'll find out about it, but like the analysis it might be a few days before we find out anything."

"Excellent." Sona smirked, looking down at the board. "We'll move slowly, covering our tracks as we gradually tighten the net around him. By the time he figures it out I want him to have no escape."

* * *

While this was going on, Leo and Cornelia had returned to the home that Azazel had given them to use.

"Are you serious?" Cornelia said, rubbing her temples as a headache began to form.

"Yeah." Leo said, putting a plate full of food in front of Lia. "No hesitation what so ever."

She sighed, beginning to dig into her food. "He really would give Asmodeus a run for his money."

"He's worse than Odin and Azazel, that's for sure." Leo commented, taking a seat across from her. "Wine?"

"Please." She answered. "Tomorrow is the next check in with whoever is giving orders to the Grigori team."

"I remember." Leo nodded. "Hopefully we can get everything squared away and find this traitor quickly. The longer we're in this town the greater chance there is of detection. Not to mention that I have a bad feeling about this place."

"I didn't realize that you inherited your Mother's clairvoyance." Lia teased. "Or have you finally admitted that divination is not such a wooly subject."

He snorted. "I put as much stock in divination as I do in your cooking." He paused smirking at the pouty look she sent him. "Just because we're independent doesn't mean that we're allowed to move around Devil territory so easily. Like it or not we're here without permission from either one of the Devils in charge and every day we're here we increase the chance of being found out and having a Satan swoop down on us."

"Yes." She drawled. "Swooping is bad."

"Are you planning on working tonight?" He asked.

"No why?" Finishing the last of her food she got up and took it to the sink.

"It's been a while since we spent some time together." He replied tucking away the last of his meal. "At least beyond sex and work."

She smiled coyly, pushing away the table and taking a seat on his lap, wrapping her hands behind his neck. "But those are some of the best parts of our relationship."

"I'm not complaining, and I love those parts." Leo said allaying her fears. "But it's been a while since we did something couples do."

She was quiet for a few moments, digesting his words as she thought back to the last time they just relaxed as themselves. No supernatural business, no Phenex's trying to strong arm them, just shutting off all their communication devices and spending some time together. Even the time they had spent together on the beach was the result of a business deal gone wrong rather than a desire to unwind. Not that they didn't enjoy every second after they had locked up that pompous Phenex. Now that she thought about it, the last time they had let loose was almost a year ago. "What did you have in mind?"

"Something that other people our age do, something we haven't done in a long time." He teased.

"Oh?" She lay several kisses on his cheek, slowly moving to his mouth with each passing one. "And what's that?"

"Well considering that we just ate and we want to get away from the Moonlit World Eirene's and Pax's aren't an option."

"Those aren't an option to begin with." She hissed. "The way some of the patrons there look at you." She shivered in barely controlled anger. "If Peace wasn't enforced I would've introduced some of them to their Maker, or in a few cases their Fathers, especially that damned tri-partite Goddess!"

"I love it when you get possessive." He whispered into her ear, stroking her back, his fingers tracing her flesh and calming her down. If she were a cat she would've been purring as she melted at his touch. "You don't have anything to worry about, it was just business."

"Business that you wouldn't tell me about?" She asked pulling away from him. He could see the hurt in her eyes, the look of betrayal. They told each other everything, and here he was withholding something vital. _Especially since it pertains to my health._ He thought, wondering if she would ever forgive him for even thinking about taking the deal that the Goddess had offered him. It was an open proposition and he could take it at any time. _I need to request a meeting with Odin._ The Old Man of the North could possibly help him, maybe offer something better, and truth be told he'd rather spend eternity with the Norse than being HER Herald.

"So." He said in an attempt to steer the conversation away from dangerous territory. "How about movie night? I'll make some snacks to eat while we curl up on the couch watching The Notebook?" She froze, staring at him in disbelief. "Or would you prefer Dear John?" He tried to maintain a straight face. By the Gods he tried, but the sheer terror on her face was enough to make him burst out laughing, before placing a kiss on her lips. "I'm joking love. Why don't you choose something interesting to watch while I make something to snack on." Thankfully he had planned ahead, hoping that she would accept his proposal, and even if she didn't he had prepared some things in advance to snap her out of one of her 'moods'. Humming to himself he rolled out the dough using the pasta rollers on the mixer. After laying them out and buttering them generously, he placed some chocolate in the center before rolling them up. Lastly, he brushed the top with a beaten egg and threw it into the oven for 25 minutes.

"Have you found a movie yet?" He called from the kitchen.

"Just waiting on you." She replied. While the pastries were in the over he busied himself making some tea, knowing that she always enjoyed to wind down with it rather than coffee. Once the tea was done he brought it out and laid the tray out on the table. Pouring it into two cups, he added dash of milk into one and a thing slice of lemon into the other with a dollop of honey. "You know me so well." She smiled, taking the cup and saucer from him. Just as he was about to respond the timer above the stove rang and he hurried back to the kitchen, pulling out the pastries and placing them on the cooling rack. To finish them off he drizzled them with some melted chocolate and took them to the living room. He was halfway there when an idea hit him, and he went back and grabbed the melted chocolate. Just in case.

"You know." Lia began snatching a chocolate scone from the tray. "Every time you do something that makes me angry I think about your skills and remember what made me fall in love with you in the first place."

"Thanks." He replied sarcastically, taking a seat beside her.

"Oh don't be like that." She said jokingly, before spotting the chocolate syrup that he had brought. "Play your cards right and we'll be using this later on."

"Is everything about sex with you?" He wondered.

"Not everything, but every time we join together I view it as the ultimate expression of our love. Every kiss we share the proof of our devotion to one another." She said seriously. "The only reason I share you is other women deserve the happiness that you give me, and I'm not selfish enough to deny them."

"Even Gabriel?" He asked, his feelings for the Seraph were likely unrequited, as she was an Angel and would Fall. He would rather have her oblivious to his feelings than risk her Falling for him. Contrary to some people's beliefs, he did not prefer Black Wings to White ones.

"Even the Heavenly Feather Duster." She grimaced. He smiled at her discomfort. While he didn't know exactly what had caused his partner to dislike the Seraph, she had been antagonistic since first meeting her. Personally he thought it had to do with Lia's mother. "Gods know that she needs a good dicking."

Just like that, the mood was ruined.

"I honestly don't know how she could've remained a virgin all these millennia. She doesn't know what she's been missing." He saw the predatory gleam in her eye, flinching as she turned to face him. "In fact, I think I'm in the mood myself."

"Really?" He asked. "What happened to the good old days when a certain girl didn't want to do anything but cuddle?"

"A certain someone introduced her to the pleasures of the flesh." She teased. "Don't tell me that you'd rather watch a movie than play with these?" She crossed her arms underneath her large breasts, emphasizing her impressive chest. She like her mother had a body built for sin, and even among her own kind, she was an exceptional beauty.

She squealed as he attacked her, nipping at her neck one hand firing up a teleportation spell while the other summoned the chocolate sauce. They disappeared in a flash, going to their private retreat.

* * *

Poll up on my Profile. Please vote as I'd love to know what people think.


	8. Act I: Counters and Confrontations

Chapter 8

The night that the two of them spent together was without a doubt one of the best they ever had. It wasn't even the sex that made it special but the simple act of them cuddling up afterwards, watching the sun set totally oblivious to the discomfort that lying naked in the sand caused. They held onto each other tightly, basking in their lover's warmth. Today would be the day that changed it all, it marked an escalation in their mission as it changed from a simple reconnaissance mission to ferreting out a traitor within the Grigori. Azazel had been briefed about the possibility of a traitor and how the group he had dispatched was receiving false orders. Already he had forwarded additional money as the mission went beyond what he had paid them to do.

They left the island refreshed and relaxed, ready for anything the world could throw at them. When they got back to the Azazel's house, Leo led his lover into his workshop and the two of them loaded themselves for war. Using their dimensional storage areas they set themselves up with a variety of healing items, weapons and support items effective against both dragons and devils.

"Do you think we should set this up?" Cornelia asked, gesturing towards the Ark of the Covenant that he had in a corner of the room. He grimaced, those weren't cheap to create and Heaven strictly regulated them. Technically he wasn't even supposed to have another one as he had used the one they gave him on the island to dispose of the Phenex member, but he decided to create one anyway. One of the problems was moving it around as the dense Holy Energy tended to cause any other magic it came in contact with to mutate into Holy Light. The only effective way to move it was to completely encase it in a magic absorbing box and use a forklift to load it into a vehicle.

"I don't think we need it right now." He said honestly. "While both Gremory and Sitri have potential, at this moment they are hilariously weak. Though if their siblings do show up, we'll need it to level the playing field. Either through threatening to kill their family or using it to weaken them."

"Then I'll set it up a remote detonation." Cornelia said, tinkering with it for a few minutes. In the time that it took for her to rig up the Holy Apocalypse Leo had gotten a flatbed cart, and positioned it by the Ark. With nothing but brute strength Lia tilted the massive gold bomb, allowing him to wedge the cart underneath. Using a couple straps and a winch they got the bomb positioned on the cart, Leo driving it out of him workshop and setting it up in Azazel's house. They weren't too worried about moving it to a certain location as its blast radius was more than enough to cover the entire city, not to mention the shielding on Azazel's home prevented it from being detected. Once that was all set they put on their uniforms and drove to the Academy.

As soon as the school gates were in sight, Leo knew something was off. Tsubaki, Reya, Momo and Sona were positioned at the gates, discretely casting spells on students at they entered the property. _What are they doing?_ He thought, wishing he could pull out his glasses and observe whatever they were casting. While he wasn't sure of the specifics, he recognized the glazed look that some of the student had, while others seemed to have trouble keeping their mouth closed. _Compulsions._ He guessed, wondering what exactly Sona was hoping to achieve with this. Unable to do anything here in public he wandered into the classroom, mentally composing an application to submit to the club of his choice. He'd submit it at the end of the day, and afterwards would head to the Church.

Sitting at his desk, he couldn't help but smirk as he saw Issei Hyoudou walk into the room looking like death had warmed over. An odd saying as the Death deities he had met were not really that cold to begin with. The boy was moving sluggishly, doing his best to avoid direct sunlight, and had large bags underneath his eyes. When he finally got to his seat his head hit the desk, and nothing that the other members of the perverted trio did was able to stir him from his stupor. The smirk lasted until lunch time, when he finished making his application to hand in to the various club presidents.

Rejected.

His left eye twitched in anger as the club presidents rejected him for the most outlandish of reasons. No one rejected Leopold Asher Aurelianus. NO ONE!

Finding one of the next club presidents he discretely cast a ward around them preventing anyone from entering the area, as well as giving a slight compulsion to leave as fast as they could. Since it was so underpowered to avoid detection the effects weren't instantaneous like he was used to, and he found himself counting down the time it took for the area to be cleared. Once everyone but the president was gone he hit them from behind with a powerful stunner. The next 10 minutes were spent unashamedly ransacking the poor boy's mind as he searched for a reason for his application to be rejected. _Should've started with his most recent memory._ He grumbled, mentally face palming at his foolhardy mistake.

Fast forwarding through the boy's memories he arrived at the beginning of the day. Everything went well until he entered the academy, watching through the boy's eyes he saw Tsubaki place a hand on his shoulder, a faint tingling running down her spine. His vision became blurry for a moment, but quickly cleared and he continued his walk to his locker. Pulling out of the boy's memories, he shivered in discomfort. Trolling through memories was not something that he liked to do, as it was not only a violation of privacy but also because the more you did it the more likely you were to pick up stray thoughts of the person. Sooner or later all those thoughts would mesh and you would have an identity crisis, unable to tell who you really are and if that really happened to you. Not that he was out of the boy's memories he looked at the rest of his brain, finding exactly what he thought he would, a sliver of magic lodged in his brain, compelling him to follow the caster's order.

Dispelling it would've been easy, as he took a magically formed scalpel to the metaphysical growth, but he didn't want to just dispel it, he wanted to know exactly what was planted in his head. Carefully cutting the foreign magic out of the boy's brain he removed it and brought it out into the open, feeding it his own power to continue its existence. A moment later a multicolored mercurial "thing" appeared in his hand. "Thing" was the best description as it shifted too fast for him to recognize, however one key feature that stuck out was the dark, dirty, oily feeling that holding onto it gave him. Such feelings were common characteristics of devil magic. Still though it didn't matter as how it looked wouldn't tell him what he needed to know.

"I hate this." He muttered lowering his mental barriers. Immediately the "thing" latched onto him, trying to burrow itself deep into his subconscious mind.

It began to whisper into his mind, not an overt whisper, but rather a subtle thing that wormed and nagged at the back of his mind. It was a repeating message, set to a certain beat like a song that you can't just get out of your head. "Reject Leo Aurelianus' application. Reject Leo Aurelianus' application."

He let the message repeat several more times, looking for anything new, but after several repeats with no new information he focused on getting rid of the compulsion. There were quite a few ways to get rid of it, but considering that it had been used on a regular human with little to no magical resistance, the compulsion was quite weak. He easily overpowered it by running his own mana through his body. He shook himself, happy that the foreign power had been purged from his body. Sending a bit of power into the boy at his feet, he dispelled the wards around them, before walking away. He'd have a splitting headache for the next few hours, but there should be no lasting effects. Still though you needed to break a few eggs to make an omelet, and the information that he gained had been worth a bit of discomfort. Walking away from the scene, he cast a spell to scramble the magic signatures in the area, preventing anything from being traced back to him.

Arriving back at the classroom he took his seat, pondering what he had just learned. Point 1. Sona did not want him to sign up for a club. The question was why? Did she want him isolated? To be an outcast from his peers? No that would never work, not without a mass compulsion spell, perhaps she would use something runic in nature? Possibly an array targeting reversing the feelings that everyone had towards a particular target, in this case him. No that would never work, too many variables to account for, not to mention that she might make the other boys in her school fall in love with him.

He paused and shuddered at the thought.

 _No she must have something else in mind._ He thought grimly. Lack of information kills, and he really did not want to be unprepared when facing a tactical mind like Sona who planned ahead in advance. While she might be amateurish in live combat outside of rating games, even an amateur can kill a master with a lucky blow.

Then it hit him. "Game on Sona." He smiled sinisterly, thinking that he had worked out her current plan. He should've known that the suppressors wouldn't block out everything, the question was for how long did she know? What sort of contingencies did she make? Thinking about all these what if scenarios would've given him a headache, so instead he focused on what he was going to do. _She doesn't want me to be accepted into any clubs. No club means disciplinary action. However she can swoop in and "save me" by offering a spot on her Council. Does she want me as a member of her peerage? Or to make a contract with me?_

He didn't know exactly what she wanted, but doubted it would be good for him in the long run. _Let's see. Escape would be trivial, as well as assassinating her if need be. But the latter would certainly leave a trail to follow and the former would confirm her suspicions._ "Hmmm. What to do?" He wondered, the outline of a plan beginning to form in his mind. He spent the rest of the class periods going over the plan, until finally the last bell rang, and they were all dismissed.

He made his way to the room that the chess club used, and luckily managed to catch the President, before it got too crowded. Snapping his fingers he broke the compulsion spell that Sona had layered on his mind, transferred it to a small paper and instead replaced it with one of his own making. "Ah. Leo-dono." The club president said, turning to face him. "What can I do for you today?"

"Just looking through the various clubs to join."

The president's eyes lit up like the skyline during the US Fourth of July. "Really, why don't you come over to my desk, and we might discuss the benefits of joining us."

Leo was all but dragged over to the large desk the president had set up for himself. Ruefully he thought he might've overpowered the compulsion spell a bit too much, as the strength the president was displaying was abnormal. Compulsions were a double edged sword when it came to physical bodies, forcing the person to carry out the actions without care for their own bodies, he had once seen a person try to lift a stone pillar because a person compelled them, they did it, but afterwards their muscles had been ripped and torn, bones crushed, and their back broken. Yet they had lifted the stone pillar and done it with a smile on their face albeit spitting blood throughout the entire process.

Forced into a seat by the compelled president, who began to spout dozens of facts about the club, ranging from annual trips, large budgets, and the numerous competitions that they one to random reason to join such as we're better than the Shogi and Go clubs (death to the heretics!).

He had to clean his ears and blink a few times, before ultimately deciding to ignore the bloodthirsty look that the president gained when speaking about those two other clubs. "Well you see no one else…" Was all he managed to say, taking out his application, before it was snatched out of his hands.

The Chess president didn't do more than take a cursory look at the paper before he slammed his stamp on it, approving his application. "Don't worry about this, I'll send it up to the Student Council."

"Allow me." Leo smirked, taking the paper back from the President. His eyes flickered for a moment as he removed his compulsion spell and put the one that had originally been cast on the boy back on him. Hopefully being exposed to two powerful compulsion spells in such a short time would have no side effects on his mind.

Getting up he left the club room, and made his way to the Student Council Room, gently knocking on the door, taking a step back as he waited for a response.

"Enter." Tsubaki called from within the room.

Sliding the door open, he saw all of the members of the Student Council turn towards him. As expected of a group commanded by Sona, no one was absent and they were all busy with their work. "Ah, Leo-san. What can I do for you?" Inwardly she was smirking. The compulsions would've prevented anyone from even entertaining the notion of accepting him into their clubs. With nowhere to turn she'd swoop in like the proverbial guardian angel, and lift his spirits with her generous offer to join the Council.

Only she was a devil, the situation a perfect example of "Deal with the Devil", and if all went well she'd have his soul soon enough.

"I'm here to drop off some paperwork." He answered easily.

"Oh?" Sona asked raising a single elegant brow. "From who? I thought your Homeroom teacher already dropped off the daily reports."

"Nothing so important." He chuckled, pulling out his application and setting it on her desk. "Just dropping this off and then I'll be on my way."

She reached out and took the paper, her eyes going wide. Not that he saw as he had already turned around and walked out the door, chuckling and shooting her a dismissive wave.

* * *

"Tsubaki." Sona commanded.

"Hai." Her Queen said stepping closer to her.

"Get me the President of the Chess Club." She hissed staring at the paper in her hand hard enough that it was surprising it didn't spontaneously combust. "Being him to me now."

Tsubaki disappeared in a flash sensing her king's anger. The other members of the Student Council hunched further into their desks, none daring to draw their king's anger. A few minutes later Tsubaki returned with the Chess Club President trailing behind her.

"Sit down." It wasn't a request, as the sheer presence of her words set the boy back onto the seat faster than he could even properly think about his actions. "Did Leo Aurelianus come to you earlier today?"

"Yes." He said confused by the question.

"This is your stamp on his application?" She slid the paper to for him to examine.

"It is." He confirmed after a moment of looking it over.

"Why did you approve his application?" Sona asked pointedly, layering her voice with a powerful compulsion.

"Because I felt like it." The boy said slowly, his eyes glazed over, a bit of drool dripping from the corner of his mouth.

That was perhaps the last answer that she had expected, and it broke her concentration, and more importantly the compulsion she had been weaving.

"Wait…what?" Was all the boy managed to say before he was hit by a stunning spell. "Reya, Momo, Tsubaki, with me." Sona said approaching the unconscious boy.

She extended a probe, finding the spell still in place. Frowning she dug deeper, sifting through his memories, watching the entire scene from his perspective. She didn't understand, one minute the boy was set to reject anything Leo handed him, the next he was pretty much worshipping the ground that Leo walked on. It didn't make any sense! There were no traces of magic being performed on him other than what her peerage had implanted, yet somehow the boy had disobeyed her orders. For a moment she entertained the notion that he was strong willed enough to defeat the compulsion, but it was quickly dismissed. The idea that a normal human defeated her powers was laughable. She was a High Class Devil of the House Sitri bearing the rank of Prince of the 72 Pillars. No her pride would not allow her to think this. Leo must've done something. Some sort of untraceable magic! He must've had a way to defeat her. Now that she thought about it several things began to make sense! His untraceable magic was the cause of the problems she was experiencing

 _Calm yourself._ Her inner voice said, slowing her thoughts. _I can't let my paranoia overwhelm me. Think! Analyze! Act!_

Taking a few deep calming breaths she spoke up to the other magic users. "So what did you find?"

"Nothing." Tsubaki answered.

"There's nothing wrong with the spells we placed." Momo answered.

"There's something wrong with them." Reya spoke up, flinching a bit as the three others turned their sharp gazes towards her.

"Explain."

Reya waved her hand, a magic circle appearing over the unconscious boy's head before a projection appeared over that. "This was supposed to be a short term compulsion spell."

The other three nodded observing the twisting cyclical structure of the spell.

"I see it." Sona said, glaring at it with the proverbial fury of a thousand suns. Internally she was slapping herself for not noticing it earlier, such a mistake had almost cost her and made her paranoid.

Reya nodded, before swiping her hand once more, zooming into section of the spell's structure. "Since this is a short term spell, only lasting a day, we should be seeing a gradual degradation of the spell structure, at least in theory. Instead what we have here it the structure of the spell in an almost-new state. Now while there is a number of reasons that this could've happened, the only one that really makes sense is that the compulsion spell made contact with a foreign magic power. Because it was cast with the intention of being short lived it was set to be powered by a combination of the power of the caster and drawing a bit on the host like a parasite. Since this person doesn't have any magic in them, the only source that the spell could've fed on was the original power that Tsubaki used to form the spell, thus shortening the duration of the spell even further. Since it looks like this leads me to believe that it fed off another source."

"And there's no way to tell what source this was?" Sona asked.

Reya shook her head. "All I can tell you is that someone tampered with the spell. I'm not sure what they did to it, it might've been nothing more than a few diagnostic charms, but whatever it was, was enough to power the compulsion spell for longer than it was designed for. I recommend that we manually break the spell now, as we don't know the side effects that the tampering might have."

"We'll do it before we release him." Sona nodded, looking at the image once more. "Reya, see if you can blow this part up here."

Her bishop did as she was instructed, a section of the projection growing even larger. A savage smile appeared on Sona's face, as she stared at one of the anchor points on the spell. _Got you._ "Look here." She said pointing to a certain spot. "There's a minor difference in the spell. It's almost as if someone had ripped it away only to put it back and use their power as a binder. The amazing thing is that the power is gradually being converted and shaped into the spell's structure, a few more hours and we would've never noticed it."

"That's also what's fueling the spell." Reya remarked. "It's not enough for a positive ID, but it can at least put us on the right path." Saying this she cast several diagnostic spells, each one gradually enhancing the image until finally she had a clear signature to the partial power.

"Anything you can tell us?" Sona asked, seeing her bishop begin to extract the foreign magic out of the spell. As soon as she succeeded it had a cascading effect that collapsed the entire spell, wiping out everything.

"Tch." Reya spat. The sample which had already been small enough had almost been ruined, and what little she had wasn't enough to do any invasive testing on. She was left with a sliver of the foreign magic, twisting in her hands it had countess facets and diffused the light that struck it into kaleidoscopic patterns. "Not much. Whoever did this had the entire spell structure self-destruct as soon as someone tried tampering with it. What I can tell you is that they're human."

"That's not much to go on." Sona said shaking her head in annoyance. "At least we learned that someone in our school is definitely a magician, and has a connection with Leo."

"Wait isn't Leo the magician?" Saji spoke up from his desk. "I mean isn't that what we all thought."

"We have no proof." Sona said. _Though I have my suspicions and will be keeping a close eye on him. I can't remember the last time I had this much fun._ If Leo was the magician responsible, then he surely knew who she was. The both of them were dancing around the issue, Leo leaving no proof of his abilities, all the while she attempted to ensnare him. _And I will get him in the end._ To her there was no other resolution. "For now though, I want to double the watch on Leo and Cornelia. The address that they have on their application is a front, follow them and find out where their real home is. Then, see what you can do about subtly breaching their defenses, if at all possible I want monitors set up inside the house itself."

"Ano." Saji spoke up shyly. "Don't you think you're going too far? I mean we don't even know if Leo-san is really even a magician."

"And we won't know unless we do this." Sona replied sharply. "Besides, he's wearing power restrictors, carries wands, has an unknown Sacred Gear, and is messing around in my territory. This is the least we should be doing as we know neither his allegiance nor his motives. We already have Fallen operating out of the abandoned church, and it's possible that he's working with them to destabilize my rule. Until we know more about him, we're operating under the idea that he's a potential hostile."

"Shouldn't we alert Gremory-san?" Tsubaki asked.

Sona shook her head. "Rias has enough on her plate training her new pawn and trying to escape her upcoming nuptials. We can handle a lone magician."

Seeing the hard look her Queen was shooting her she compromised. "But at the first moment that things spiral out of our control, I'll alert her and ask for her help." Tsubaki nodded.

"Aurelianus. Aurelianus." Momo kept repeating, rolling the name off her tongue. "I know that I've heard the name before, but I can't remember where."

"Try your best." Reya encouraged her fellow bishop.

"The results from the fingerprint test should be here tomorrow." Ruruko said. "We should be able to find out his real identity."

"That is unless his name is really Leopold Aurelianus, then we've wasted time following a dead end, learning only his name." Saji said.

"Now that I think about it, the name Aurelianus does sound familiar. Like something that I should know." Sona said to herself.

"Maybe we should ask your sister?" Tsubaki voiced.

"No." Sona replied curtly. "There's no need to worry her, we'll solve this ourselves."

* * *

 _Everything looks good._ Leo thought, as he left the school. In a few hours the little patch that he inserted would fully bond with the compulsion spell, leaving no definite trace of his tampering. He smiled, laughing at the image of driving Sona up the wall in frustration. He'd get away clean and she'd never know someone messed with the spell.

Yes he was having a great time, and soon enough this job would be over and they could get back on the road doing more important things. Humming, he fired up a teleportation circle, allowing for the magic to whisk him away to the "abandoned" church.

Approaching the main door, he sent a tendril of magic through the wards, tripping the alert ward. It wasn't so much as an attack as a gentle knocking on the wards. A minute later the door opened a bit, enough for Mittelt to cutely stick her head out.

"Hello, Mittelt." Leo said raising a hand in greeting.

She squinted at him, trying to see past any glamours that he might've been wearing. When she was finally sure it was him, after about a minute, she opened the door fully and embraced him. "You're just in time."

"Good." Leo said playfully petting her head. "Is Lia here yet?"

She nodded, stepping back to allow him in. "She's downstairs with Kalawarner and Raynare."

"And Dohnaseek?"

"He's on patrol." Mittelt responded. "He'll be back later on tonight."

They went down the stairs and into the hidden area underneath the altar. Mittelt left him halfway through, making a quick turning and disappearing down another hallway. Homing in on his lover, he quietly opened the door to see Cornelia and Kalawarner lounging across from one another on comfortable looking sofas. A bottle of wine lay open on the table between them next to a stack of papers, the two of them gracefully sipping from a pair of glasses.

Cornelia discretely caught his eye and most importantly the finger over his mouth. She revealed nothing as she shifted her gaze back to the report that she was reading, Leo crouching as he crept up behind his navy azure haired lover.

He could feel her tense as his arms wrapped around her, but she melted into his embrace as he gently laid kisses on her neck.

"Mmmm." She purred, as his arms moved to her shoulder, firmly squeezing and rubbing the tension out of them. "I'd stop if I were you." She let loose a sensual moan as his fingers trailed down her spine. "My lover is quite possessive."

"Really?" He whispered, biting her earlobe. "I'm afraid of no man."

"You should be." She answered.

"Why don't you tell me about him, then?"

"You wouldn't think him a fighter at first glance." She said, thrusting out her chest, allowing his fingers to trail down her magnificent breasts. "But there's a cold and calculating side to him. He's cunning, and able to manipulate events far in advance. He kills with no remorse, and with efficiency unrivaled. Yet there's a fire within, a passion just under the surface waiting to be unleashed. He loves black wings more than white, and likes his scotch neat."

"Sounds like an amazing guy." He said, pointedly refusing to meet Cornelia's rolling eyes.

"Oh he is." Kalawarner moaned, his hand caressing taut stomach. "Lower."

"What would he say, knowing his woman was putty in the hands of another man?" He asked. "That she's nothing more than a bitch in heat."

"Grrr." She growled, before yipping as he grabbed her by her trench coat and ripped it wide open, revealing her black and lacy bra.

"Black…really?" He asked raising a brow. "Is it the uniform for Fallen women?"

"Shut up and take it off." She hissed, as his hand played with her nipples.

Before he could get to the best part, the door opened once more as Raynare and Mittelt walked in.

"Raynare." He hissed, sapphire eyes as cold as the arctic. "Don't you know how to knock?"

"Don't you know how to erect wards?"

"I did." Leo said glumly, before his eyes turned fierce once more. "If you keep cock-blocking me, I'm going to shoot you."

"You already did." Raynare snarled, her raven wings flaring behind her in anger, as a light spear formed in her hand.

"Now, now." Cornelia said, uncrossing her legs and getting up from her seat. "We're all allies here, so there will be no shooting of one another."

"Thank you."

"Even if Raynare is a cock-blocking exhibitionist." She deadpanned. "Don't look at me like that. Even for a species known for lasciviousness you're the only Fallen that wears string and a thong into battle."

"Anyways." Leo interrupted. "Mittelt are you ready?"

The younger girl nodded, swinging a heavy silver briefcase onto the table and opening the lid. Inside were several crystals and a small TV like screen. "Don't say anything about me or Lia. If it's a fake, they won't know we're here and we can use that to our advantage."

She moved one of the crystals, activating the communicator. "Kuoh Recon to Base. Recon to Base."

"Base Actual receiving. Kuoh Recon Authenticate." A male voice said.

"Recon authenticating, using D26 card." Mittelt answered. "Confirm?"

"D26 Confirmed." The other person said. Mittelt reached into the case and pulled out a sealed clear plastic with a folded red sheet of paper in it. Snapping the plastic she unfurled the paper and read it.

"Base, this is Recon, authentication is "Foxtrot-Papa-Tango-Xray-Bravo." Mittelt said reading off half of the code on the paper.

"November-Alpha-Papa-Sierra." The person on the other side continued. "Authentication confirmed. Transferring you to Lord Azazel."

Leo shot her a thumbs up, as she beamed at him. The small screen crackled to life showing Azazel behind his desk. "Ah Mittelt, good. You're mission was just on my mind."

"Lord Azazel." Mittelt said bowing her head. "We're calling to deliver our weekly report." She continued after he waved at her. "Regarding the current mission status. We have suffered no casualties, and the detachment of Exorcists that you have assigned to us has reported 5 stray devils killed. None of exceptional reputation. We believe that the devils are aware of our presence but they have not moved against us, nor have they conducted any sort of intelligence gathering missions. What are your orders?"

'Azazel' was silent for a few moments, his hand rubbing his chin. "Continue as you have been, do not engage unless attacked, and do not fall prey to the taunts and jabs of those filthy devils. What's the status of the target?"

Mittelt hesitated, licking her lips nervously, before she answered her superior. "Target, Hyoudou Issei. Initial infiltration was successful and Raynare managed to lure him into a trap. However before she could deal a killing blow they were…interrupted."

"Interrupted?" 'Azazel' asked coldly. For the briefest of moments, such that Leo almost missed it, the man's eyes flashed red.

"An unknown party, struck Raynare down, before fleeing with the Target."

"Are there any leads on this party's identity?"

Mittelt shook her head. "We think that they might be a part of the Vatican. After one fled with the target, a partner lying in wait prevented anyone from following. Both Rias Gremory and her Queen Akeno Himejima were incapacitated suffering Holy Light poisoning from being shot by Blessed bullets."

'Azazel' was silent for a few minutes, looking over another report. "You said that they were incapacitated? What's their current status?"

"Recovering. Kalawarner, who at the time was acting as support for Raynare, was unable to determine why they were left alive."

"And the Target? Were you able to eliminate him?"

"Negative. We weren't able to without getting into conflict with the local Devils. The target was contacted the next day and was recruited into the Gremory peerage."

"That is…unfortunate." 'Azazel' drawled. "Continue to observe him closely, and if the opportunity presents itself eliminate him. For now though you have a new primary mission. A former nun is enroute to your position, I want you to protect her until she arrives at the Church and then contact me for follow-up orders."

"Understood. Can you provide a description for us to look for?"

'Azazel' nodded. "Asia Argento, Caucasian female, 5"1' no more than 100 lbs. Straight blonde hair reaching her waist and green eyes. She prefers wearing a modified nun's habit normally teal, and prominently displays a silver cross. She will be arriving by train within the next few days."

Mittelt wrote down the description. "Got it. This is the end of our report."

"You have your orders." 'Azazel' said, closing the line, the screen going black once more.

"Hooo." She sighed, letting out the tension that she hadn't realized she was keeping. Before she said anything else, she moved the crystal away and sealed up the briefcase once more. "So…that happened."

"That's not Azazel." Leo confirmed. "He's already aware of most of what you reported. And this deal with the nun, somethings off."

"I don't like this." Cornelia spoke up, a frown marring her face. "My instincts are telling me that we're about to be dragged into something larger than us."

"You too, huh?" Leo said sullenly. "For now we'll keep a lookout for the nun, and when we retrieve her report in as ordered. In the meantime, I'll get in contact with some people in the Church and see what I can dig up on this Asia Argento."

"And I'll report this development to Azazel." Cornelia said. "I need to go to the Underworld anyways."

Before they could say anything else, a crystal began glowing an angry red and letting off a klaxon like sound.

"What's that?" Leo asked, forcing his hand away from the holster of his Sacred Gear.

"Warning alarm." Raynare said, hurrying over to it. "It seems like Dohnaseek has run into some trouble and is requesting backup."

"I see." Standing up from his seat he began to make his way up to the vestibule. "Aren't you coming?" He asked with a raised brow. His clothes shifted to that of an exorcist before 3 pairs of black wings emerged from his back. A quick charm shifted his features and turned his unique silver hair into a dull blonde.

Everyone but Mittelt followed him, as they took to the skies.

"You never told me you could fly." Kalawarner said, eyeing his wings.

He snorted. "You never asked. Though these wings are simply a minor application of transformative magics with a layered illusion to give them more of a Fallen look."

"How good's your control?"

"Perfect." He responded. It wasn't a boast or said cockily, just a simple statement of fact. "Why?"

She rolled her wings slightly, drawing herself closer. Shooting his a seductive look, she whispered just loud enough for him to hear. "It's been a fantasy of mine, to be taken in the air."

He was almost forced to eat his earlier words as he momentarily fell into a nosedive, dropping a dozen feet before recovering. He shot his lover a baleful glare, as she whistled innocently.

"There they are!" Lia pointed. As one the four of them dove to the ground, surprising Issei who was in the middle of attacking Dohnaseek. While Raynare and Kalawarner landed next to their comrade, and Cornelia landed several feet away poised to respond to any threats, it was Leo who got in the middle of it, as he drop kicked Issei across the fountain area.

"You okay?" He asked the older Fallen.

"Fine." Dohnaseek answered, landing softly against the ground, and picking up his fedora. Dusting it off he propped it back on his head. "He got in a lucky shot."

"It only takes one." Leo warned, carefully watching as Issei struggled to get back to his feet.

* * *

15 minutes ago.

Issei had left his friend's house and was walking home. Along the way, he felt his energy flowing, remembering what Rias had told him the day before about the gradual changes that would occur since he became a devil.

It was the complete opposite of his time during the day, instead of lethargic and depressed, he felt energized to a point he had never felt before. Another change was the increased acuity of his senses, everything from his fearing to his sight. Now even though there were few street lights he was still able to see in front of him as if they were perfectly illuminated.

As he left Motohama's house his feet gradually carried him to the park where his entire life had changed. He walked around the fountain slowly, his eyes looking for any confirmation about the battle that had taken place. A path of grass darker than the others drew his attention, and as he kneeled memories of that night assaulted him. He could feel himself gagging as the taste of blood flooded his mouth, the sharp pain of being stabbed by a spear of light. He remembered this patch, for it was the one that he bled out on. Standing up he moved to the fountain itself and took a seat on the edge, lost in his own thoughts.

Time passed, and soon the darkness took hold, the last of the day's rays drowned out. A chill ran down his spine, his instincts taking hold as he felt like he was being watched. His body shook in fear, as the feeling grew stronger, and a man appeared. He was dressed sharply in a suit and wore a fedora, but it was his eyes that stood out to Issei. Eyes that stared into his very soul, judging him, and finding him to be no more worthwhile than an ant.

The man walked closer, and the feeling in the air intensified. To Issei with every step the man took, it felt like Death was closing in. "This is unexpected." The man said, his voice a light bass. "I did not expect for our paths to cross so soon."

Fear took over, and his legs tensed ready to flee at a moment's notice. There was no fighting, he was untrained and more importantly had never fought someone before. "Trying to run away Issei Hyoudou?" The man smirked. "Truly, Raynare was right when she said you were weak and cowardly."

Raynare! The name struck a chord inside him, as he remembered his first love. She had manipulated him, played him for a fool, and tore his heart out.

"Where is she?" Issei growled, his anger taking hold of him.

"Raynare?" Dohnaseek asked tilting his head. "Pfft. Like I'd tell you, filth."

He snapped, a lifetime of being looked down upon by others finally caused his anger to boil over, and he launched a clumsy punch at the man while screaming.

"Amateur." Dohnaseek sneered, taking a step back to avoid the wild haymaker. Activating his alert seal, he called for the others to assist him. His hat unfortunately fell from his head, as he took to the air.

"You call me a coward, yet you stay there, refusing to fight." Issei yelled.

""Silence, mongrel!" Dohnaseek jeered. "This may be unfair but at the end of the day, when you're lying in a pool of your own blood and I'm alive, no one'll be able to dispute the effectiveness of my tactics."

Before Issei could say anything else, a black boot connected with the back of his head sending him flying.

"You okay?" Leo asked.

"Fine." Dohnaseek answered, landing softly against the ground, and picking up his fedora. Dusting it off he propped it back on his head. "He got in a lucky shot."

"It only takes one." Leo warned, watching as Issei struggled to get back to his feet.

*Kaboom*

There was a smoking crater between them and Issei, where the fountain used to be.

"How dare you harm my cute servant." Everyone turned to see a beautiful and curvaceous red head walking towards Issei's downed form.

"Crimson Hair. Gremory." Dohnaseek hissed.

"My name is Rias Gremory. How are you doing Fallen Angels? If you continue to harm my servant, then I'm afraid I won't be holding back." Saying that she let loose her violent aura, tainted with the power of destruction it began to erode the very earth around her.

"Weak." Lia said simply, taking a step forward. A brilliant magenta aura poured from her, smothering the power of Rias. The Gremory heiress was stunned at the display, though her resolve was quickly hardened when several footfalls approached them. Yumi Kiba, took her position at her left hand, a black arming sword in hand. Koneko stood in front of her, fingerless gauntlets equipped, ready to beat down any threat. Lastly Akeno was at her right, already dressed in her miko outfit, looking at the Fallen Angels with cold eyes.

"Ara, ara." It seems like there's quite a gathering of crows tonight."

"One might say that it's a murder." Raynare smirked, igniting a light spear in her hand, an action repeated by all the Fallen.

"How craven of you," Rias taunted. "Ganging up on a low class-devil like this. Though what else can you expect from weakling trash."

Raynare, Kalawarner, and Dohnaseek bristled at that. They might've only had two wings but they were veterans who had fought in the Great War. The same war which had claimed so many, they had survived through guile, ingenuity and strategy.

"Do not fall for their tricks." Leo spoke up. "You should know that devils have always relied on their silver tongues to ensnare others." His words managed to calm them down. "What arrogance, thinking that we are weak, only able to defeat a devil en masse."

At that Cornelia took a step back and unfurled 5 pairs of jet black wings. "It is you who is weak." She smirked, her light spear held casually in her right hand as a heater shield formed on her left arm. The tension was thick enough to cut, before the voice of reason finally spoke up. "We'll be leaving now." Dohnaseek said."

The Fallen faction plus Leo nodded, and stepped back, dismissing their weapons.

"Wait!" Issei said finally managing to stand properly. "Yuuma!"

Raynare stopped, and turned to stare at him coldly. "My name is Raynare. Yuuma was nothing but a cover to get closer to you."

"But I-"

"What?" Raynare interrupted. ""You love me?" She laughed cruelly. "Let me guess you thought that I loved you as well?" At his slight nod she laughed once more. "As if I could ever fall in love with a worm like you. Go crawl back into your hole and pray that I never see you again, for next time I do I'll make sure it's the last time."

Giving a cry of anguish the boy ran towards her. Faster than the others could react Leo put himself in the path and drew upon the Holy energy that flowed through him. "Submit yourselves, then, to God, Resist the Devil and he will flee from you!" At his words Issei dropped to his knees screaming in pain, as the verses of Scripture inflicted their damage. The pain from hearing the aria was just the tip of the iceberg as it drew upon his power and faith to enact a miracle. Issei was violently thrown back, landing in a heap at the feet of Rias. That was the straw that broke the camel's back as everyone summoned their weapons once more. "Raynare, Kalawarner, Dohnaseek retreat for now, we'll rendezvous with you later." Catching the eye of his lover he nodded. "Buy me a minute."

She was off like lightning, her first strike neatly deflecting Yumi's attack, while she angled her shield to deflect both Rias' Power of Destruction and Akeno's thunder.

"For thou art my lamp, O Lord: and the Lord will lighten my Darkness." With that said the beginning of a barrier sprang into existence. "For by thee I have run through a troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall." The golden shimmering barrier began to rise higher. "As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him." The barrier was complete, shielding him from all harm. "The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as Holy." Starting his next aria, he channeled his entire being into it, the Holy energy resonating within him and spreading to cover the entire park.

For the devils it was torture as they fell to their knees clutching their heads in pain. "He is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread." His aria instilled within them pure fear. "Many of them will stumble; they will fall and be broken, they will be snared and captured." Cornelia retreated to his side, her weapons held in a relaxed grip. It might've taken some time for an Aria to complete their quotations, but once they were completed none could deny their effectiveness. Bands of holy light shackled them, forcing them spread eagle. "Bind up this testimony of warning and seal up God's instruction among my disciples."

He was sweating and panting in exhaustion. It had been a long time since he last channeled this much holy energy through his body, and his body for all its strength was still human and humans weren't meant to channel the power of the divine for long. Loudly he proclaimed, "EVERYONE WHO CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED!" A gleaming golden sword materialized and hung suspended above each of the bound devils. "KYRIE ELEISON!"

The Swords descended.


	9. Act I: Gabriel

Chapter 9

Author's Note: So some of you may recognize the later parts of this chapter, so to give credit where it's due, I was inspired to write what I wrote by Fahad09's great story _A Demon Lord's Hero, w_ hich is without a doubt one of the greatest Fate/Stay Night x DxD Crossovers I've ever read. This chapter is mostly setup for the future, as well as developing the relationship between Gabriel and Leo.

* * *

"Uhhh. Did someone get the plate on the bus that hit me?" Leo groaned, fumbling about in the sheets. "Where am I?" The sheets that he was on didn't feel like his mulberry satin sheets, nor was it his regular fluffy mattress, and most importantly he was alone in the bed.

He tensed as a pair of soft hands lightly gripped his head, before relaxing in the presence of her warmth. Wisps of long blonde hair caressed his face as she peered down at him. "The Vatican." She reassured. "How are you feeling?"

"Feverish." He admitted, subtly shifting closer to her. "What happened?"

"I'm sorry." She replied, downcast. "It seems like our contract has had some unexpected side-effects."

"What sort of side-effects?" He asked, wondering what would change her normally cheerful demeanor into this melancholy one. Whatever it was, if she wasn't happy then he wasn't happy, and when he wasn't happy he tended to resort to shooting the problem until it went away. To quote one of the mercs he had teamed up with once, "If violence doesn't solve all your problems, you're obviously not trying hard enough."

"You know how you had Holy Light flowing through you?"

"Of course." Leo responded, it was common knowledge that he possessed the required energy that allowed him to wield Holy Weapons. A fact that really grated on some of the Church Elders who saw his blatant neutrality and unwillingness to assist them as an affront to their Faith. Here was a heretical existence in possession of something that was considered to be one of God's greatest gifts, a sliver of the Divine itself. "While it was enough for me to use something on the level of Carnwennan, I rarely used it. I rarely use arias, preferring to engage Devils from long range."

She nodded. "Do you remember what happens during a contract ceremony? Not a devil contract but a true partnership contract?"

He shifted a bit, his demeanor taking on a lecturing air. "Normally the two participants agree to a set of terms, as well as rules to govern the overall contract. This is to prevent one side from abusing the other. Next the two exchange a bit of their own power, each person taking in the essence of the other, in order to link them eternally. It's because of this that this type of contract is incredibly rare, as it would allow the two people an unprecedented amount of knowledge over the other. Not to mention the fact that they would be able to locate one another no matter where they were, to teleport to their position, and supposedly it would establish a sort of telepathic link between them. Why?"

"It seems like one of the side-effects of our contract was an increased potency to your Holy Light." She said slowly.

"Wait." He interrupted. "When you made a contract with me, I thought it was going to be a different type. Not something so…so…."

"Binding?" She supplied, her heart wrenching a bit at the rejection of the contract, not that she showed it. "I'll admit that it wasn't my intention to bind us together so tightly." She wouldn't admit that her mind had slipped for a moment when she was initiating the contract with him, nor would she admit that her distraction was what landed them in this predicament. "But it seems like the fates have bound us together."

He sighed before nodding. Honestly it shouldn't be that bad, he was after all bound to a seraph, a being of benevolence and awesome might. More importantly he was bound to a beautiful and loving woman who he cared for. Before today he chose not to be fatalistic, even when presented with beings who represented Fate. Now though, abruptly he stood up, and walked to the nearest window, threw it open and screamed as loudly as he could. "SCREW YOU CLOTHO! LACHESIS! ATROPOS! YOU'RE JUST JEALOUS THAT URDR, SKULD, AND VERDANDI ARE THE REAL FATES! YOU UGLY, POMPOUS, DISGUSTING HAGS" His voice was loud enough to set windows rattling and birds squawking in indignation. Panting he began to laugh, while it would surely piss off the Greek Pantheon even more, it sure was cathartic. Gabriel stared at him with a tilted head, wondering what brought this about.

"Sorry." He apologized, running a hand down his face. "But the Greek Fates swore that they'd cause me no end of grief when I told them that the Norse Pantheon was better."

She wasn't about to dissuade him from the notion that the Greeks were to be blamed, and replied. "I see."

"Now…where does this leave us?" He asked cautiously. He wasn't going to lie, being together with her was incredibly amazing, and the bindings she invoked would make them closer to each other than any other person. In a way he was honored to be together with her, having fallen for her long ago. Some might say that it was a fanciful crush or a desire for the forbidden fruit, but he would tell them that they were wrong. He could feel it in the very depths of his soul, the yearning and desire for her. However he swore not to act on it, to keep her not at arm's length but separated. His was not a clean profession and the amount of blood on his hands was enough to drown in and permanently stain the soul, and he did not want anything to sully her purity. He would not allow her to fall for a bloodied menace like himself.

"I don't know." She replied. "I haven't told anyone else yet. Not even my brother, but he's bound to find out sooner rather than later."

Turning to the sky, he wondered if Michael already knew, considering that they were in the middle of Vatican City, and he couldn't sense any protections around the room to prevent people from scrying or listening in on them. He was becoming lax in his security, once there was a time when he would've fired off protection spells without a moment's hesitation and more importantly detection spells to find the bugs.

He had done neither.

"We've known each other for what? 8 years?" Going back to the bed he took a seat next to her.

"Just about."

"How well do we know one another?"

She was silent, her face scrunched up, thinking. His breath hitched, and his heart beat a little faster at the cute expression she wore. "Quite well I'd like to think." She answered after a few minutes. Never would she admit to checking up on him whenever she had free time. Some of those times had shown her things that almost made her Fall. Lucky for her Leo was looking away and couldn't see the slight blush on her cheeks.

Neither noticed her wings turning slightly darker.

"I'd like to think so too. I'd go so far as saying that you are one of my few friends, and a close one at that." Leo confessed. "I love being with you, even if our times together have sometimes been fleeting."

"I've lived a long time." She stated. "However I've always felt a hole in my heart, like a part of me was missing. I've been alone and lost for a long time, and nothing I've done has managed to fill that gap in me. My brother knows how I feel but he doesn't understand it. My greatest fear was not Falling but being unable to fill that void." She whispered, before getting up and moving in front of him. "When I first met you, a feeling went through me, and as I spent more and more time with you I could slowly feel that void within me closing."

"I'm sorry." She said dejectedly, tears forming in her eyes.

"Shhh. Don't cry, angel." He stood up from the bed, conjuring a small handkerchief, and wiping the tears from her eyes. Slightly taller, he gazed into her sparkling sapphire eyes of the Most Beautiful Woman of Heaven, and felt his heart wrench, and his throat constrict. The title was without a doubt true, but it also failed to properly convey a sense of her astounding beauty. He had stood in the presence of Venus and Aphrodite, been enthralled to the chambers of Qetesh, and seduced by Astarte, even slept with Sjöfn a few times, but it was Gabriel who he found himself being drawn to. Her beauty was greater than that of those Goddesses who embodied the concept of beauty, lust and love.

"Can you forgive me?" She begged, stepping closer to embrace him.

"There's nothing to forgive." He reassured, running his hand through her hair. It took all his willpower not to kiss her cherry lips, to whisper sweet nothings in her ear as he trailed kisses down her elegant neck.

"You don't even know what I did." She laughed hollowly.

He just hugged her tighter, the two of them basking in the presence of the other, finding comfort in the warmth that they're joining created. He smiled a small smile at the irony of the situation, normally it was her comforting him, and most importantly their respective auras were almost completely opposed.

Hers was a gentle thing of beauty while his was harsh, authoritative and utilitarian. He lived his life in the grey areas of morality at the best of times and at the worse did things that would've made even the original devils balk at him. She served the Light and God, protecting man from foes like him.

By all rights they shouldn't be acquaintances, let alone the close friends that they were, but Fate dictated otherwise. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the situation they found themselves in, but he knew that he would cherish it forever. "Whatever you did, no matter how ill-conceived, or the world turn on you, I'll be here for you."

You could feel the promise in his words, pouring his very soul into the promise, and woe to the person, whether they be mortal or immortal that tried to stop him from coming to her. "Now tell me angel, what is there that needs to be forgiven? Make your confession."

"I used you." She cried, staining his shirt with her tears. "Degraded you to a thing to fill the very void of my soul."

He wanted to laugh, but he knew that he shouldn't. "That's it?" He asked gently. Before she could say anything in her defense, he placed a finger against her lips. "For all your experience, and your observations of humanity, no matter your innocence and naivety in believing in the goodness of man, we as a species are flawed. From the very beginning man has used one another for their own benefit, and though there are many who act selflessly it is hard to deny that as a species we are inherently selfish. Those who are selfish oft times have the power and create the laws that rule over others."

"I believe in a world of freedom." Gabriel countered.

He was silent for a minute, gazing down at her crystalline eyes, before he smiled. It was an honest smile, one that he rarely wore and only shared with his closest confidantes. "Never change." He said holding her tightly. "Strive forever to make the world a better place, and know that I will help you along the long path, however I fear a world of freedom is also one in which the people live in absolute fear." She snuggled into his chest, and after several minutes he had to force himself to step back, not noticing the slight pout on her face. He loved her, however it was her innocence that first captured his attention, and he would not allow it to be dirtied. Clearing his throat, he started, "so we got a bit off track."

"That we did." She answered, retreating to take a seat on the bed. "I'm sure that you have questions."

"Just a few." He grinned. "You told me that our joining had several side effects, what are they?"

She gestured for him to take a seat across from her before folding her hands, and taking on a teaching air. His mind played with the idea of seeing her hair up in a bun as well as glasses on her face, imagining the sexy librarian look before he switched back to business.

"I haven't really been able to find too many changes, however this isn't really my area of expertise, and the people that might know can't be told." Gabriel began. "So far I've only found an increased potency to the Holy Light element in your body. Where before you were about A-rank in quality and probably a C-rank in quantity, your reserves have almost tripled in size, and the quality is such that it is almost indistinguishable from a mid-ranked Throne."

He whistled in amazement. Thrones were just under Seraphim in the overall hierarchy of Heaven and were a part of the First Sphere, the highest ranked of the Three Spheres that angels were divided into.

"However even though you gained a massive increase in both quality and quantity your form is still mortal and as such there is a limit to how much Holy Light you can channel before you become oversaturated and spontaneously combust." She said grimly. There was the caveat he expected, as there was always a drawback to a massive increase of power that you did not gain with your own two hands. "That explains why I felt feverish earlier." He mused.

She nodded. "When you channeled your Holy Light through the aria it caused your body to heat up."

"Hmmm. This is going to take some getting used to." He muttered. "I didn't think I channeled a lot of power when I was dealing with the Gremorys."

She shot him a deadpan look. "Are you serious?"

"Of course." He responded slowly, unsure of exactly where she was going.

"Your little power was like a beacon." Gabriel told him. "To those of us with the ability to sense it, it was like someone lit up a massive bonfire on the darkest of nights. You were lucky that our contract allowed me to teleport myself to your side. I managed to not only divert the power you were using, preventing you from killing yourself but also nudged the swords out of the way."

"Nudged?" He wondered.

"Yes. Else your last attack would've succeeded in killing the entire Gremory peerage. As it stands right now it'll take weeks for them to fully recover from the Holy Light exposure, less though if they spend time in the Underworld."

"Wait, you said that you managed to divert my power. That's impossible for anything less than a Kankara formula user!"

She shot him a look, that on any less pure being would've been something along the lines of 'are you stupid?' As it stood, she instead explained to him as simply as she could. "I've had much more experience with Holy Light than just about anyone else alive. Considering my almost immortal state that is saying something. While I may not be able to control all phenomena like the Kankara formula can, my mastery over both the Holy and Light element is unparalleled."

Before he could offer a rebuttal his stomach growled, causing the serious atmosphere to vanish in an instant. She giggled, "I guess someone's hungry."

He shot her a dry look, and afterwards said as seriously as he could. "Yes."

"I should've guessed you'd be hungry." She muttered to herself, looking around the room. Being a divine being she didn't need to eat, and sometimes the dietary requirements of mortal's slip her mind. "Come on let's go find something to eat."

"We can head over to my apartment, there's a kitchen there and it's been a while since I cooked a meal for you." He said getting up off the bed.

"NO!" She exclaimed, before coughing into her hand. "I mean there's no need to go that far." The wards around the city prevented anyone from interfering with their alone time, and if they went to his apartment Cornelia was sure to barge in. "There' a kitchen here, and a stocked pantry that I'm sure you can use to whip something up." Saying that she grabbed him by the hand, both of them oblivious to the other's slightly reddening cheeks, and led him to the kitchen.

Taking a look at the ingredients he had he pulled out a skillet and began cooking some sausage that he took out of the casing. Next he took a loaf of bread sliced it, sprinkled it with olive oil and garlic and threw it in the toaster. Once the sausages were nice and browned he threw in the marinara sauce, seasoned with salt and pepper and allowed the flavors to mix on a low simmer, occasionally stirring. Once the sauce was to his liking he made a few little spots and cracked some eggs, putting one in each of the 4 spots he made. Leaving it alone to cook he took out the bread from the toaster and set it aside. After several minutes the whites of the egg solidifies leaving him with a nice runny yolk, and he finished it all off with a drizzle of oil, some coarse black pepper, a generous dollop of cheese and parsley. Plating it with the garlic bread, he sighed to himself at the smells filling the kitchen, before taking the two plates full of food to the table where Gabriel had been watching him from. After saying Grace, he began to earnestly dig in, savoring the hearty meal.

Gabriel giggled, "You're eating like you haven't eaten in days, which does make sense since you've been unconscious for almost a week."

He froze his brain trying to process what his ears heard. "A week?" He asked hesitantly.

"A week." She confirmed. "It's taken me that that long to draw all the excess Holy Light out of you." She hoped that he wouldn't see the blush on her cheeks. Drawing the energy from him and back into her had required close contact, and she had spent most of the time embracing him in bed, slowly siphoning it off. Thankfully it wasn't like the Devil's healing and didn't require bare skin-to-skin contact, but still for an angel, no a woman, who had lived her entire life in purity, it was the closest she had ever been with a man.

 _I'm so dead._ He thought glumly, unable to even imagine the tortures that Cornelia would inflict on him. "Did you by any chance tell Cornelia that you were taking me?" He whimpered, the terrifying visage of his lover made him want to do nothing but kneel in supplication all the while begging for mercy.

"Of course." Gabriel answered. One of her Father's commandments was Thou shalt not lie, and she was not lying. She simply choose not to inform him that she had appeared in a pillar of light, knocked him out to prevent him from overdoing it, grabbed him, threw him over her shoulder, and shot a victorious look at the stunned Cornelia before disappearing in a flash. The entire exchange had taken no more than 10 seconds, and by the time she got back to the Vatican she was grinning broadly. She had raised the powerful wards around the Holy City to a war footing, preventing any supernatural being but a select to enter the city unmolested. Already the ancient Divine created wards had deflected numerous attempts to forcibly enter the Blessed Land, only to be rebuffed. Subtler attacks such as using mesmerized humans had also failed. She had waved off her brother's concerns by telling him that she was doing the annual test of the city's defenses, again not lying as she had done exactly that. _Daddy would understand._ She thought.

All that mattered was the time that the two of them spent together. Granted Leo had been asleep for the most part, but if she was able to spend one carefree day alone with him, she'd do it all again in a heartbeat. Well maybe not a heartbeat as she didn't really have a heart, only in the metaphorical sense, but still it was the thought that counted.

"So you came to me, then what?"

"Like I said I recognized the signs of Holy Light overexposure, and took you from there. Here at the Vatican which is central to the Catholic Faith, I was able to siphon off the excess and disperse it back into the world without any negative side-effects. It was then that I noticed the increased potency and quantity of Holy Light flowing through you."

"And that took several days?"

"You're lucky it didn't take longer!" She almost yelled. "Human bodies weren't meant to handle the level of power that a Throne can wield. Humans and other species may be able to manipulate the world around them with formulas or their demonic power, but it is only angel that can directly warp reality. Even low ranked angels can smite a devil or human with a single touch, while those of the First Sphere can call upon the System to do things like travel through time, negate Sacred Gears, gain partial omniscience, and control the most powerful of natural forces." She calmed down, fixing her clothes a bit. "There's a saying, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The temptation of Pride is one that all angels fight daily, especially for those of us who are exemplary. Locking ourselves in Heaven I believe has made us cold and blind to the plights of man, and eventually we may grow so out of touch with the world that we view ourselves as supreme. On that day Heaven will Fall. For that reason I make it a point to travel often and interact with humanity. My brother is unable to do so as his duties constantly require his attention, so I do so in his stead."

"I see." Leo said softly. The powers of Angels weren't well documented, and he was completely unaware of the sort of power that they could call upon if push comes to shove. He shouldn't have been surprised really, as they had been winning the war and were still the strongest of the 3 Biblical Factions. "Now I can understand your concerns. Those with power less than mine have tried to establish themselves as gods, and plunged the world into chaos."

"The nephalem, children of angels both Fallen and Pure inherited the power of their parents, and rose to threaten the world. It was only due to the Great Flood that we stemmed the tide and ended their tyranny." She whispered, melancholically. Sensing her sadness, he took a seat next to her and embraced her, pulling her into his chest. "I knew many of them, both the parents and some of the nephalem. The Great Flood may have succeeded in destroying them, but it also was the second time that so many of us Fell at once. The wailing lamentations echoed across the Heavens for weeks. Parents consumed by grief lashed out and were cast out. I watched unable to help them as their wings were stained black, and their halos disappeared. They plummeted like meteors from the Heavens, some died, while others found refuge in the Grigori, nursing hatred and anger deep within their hearts. The feelings fester still to this day. Others fled, and in disguise lived amongst the humans."

Sensing the break in the conversation he got up from the table and began to clean up the mess he had made in the kitchen. Once that was done Gabriel took him by the hand and lead him back to the room.

"Where does this leave us?" He asked.

"We are more than friends." She started, thinking that it was a safe point to begin. "Just as you feel for me, I feel the same." She held up her hand, silencing any protests he might've made. "I know what goes on in your mind. You fear the consequences of your feelings. You think that I will reject you, or worse that I will accept them. You're afraid that pursuing me will lead me to Fall, that I'd blame you for losing the blessing of my Father." She got up off the bed shuffling around so that she faced him. Placing her hands on his shoulders she held him in place as she took a seat on his lap. They were so close to one another, not only was she sitting on his lap, but her soft chest was against his, the two star-crossed friends gazing deep into the other's eyes. "Just as you said that you would forever be by my side, I too promise that I'll forever be by yours."

Their hearts beat as one, as their heads drifted closer to one another.

Love makes you do foolish things. It is not a thing of the mind but of the heart. Under its thrall men and women have done everything from move mountains to commit genocide. Love makes you abandon logic and do stupid things, dangerous things.

He was afraid to confess his feelings, and she would not either. They knew that this was not a fleeting attraction, but at the same time harbored fears that their love was transient. After all she was an immortal Angel pledged to defend mankind against the forces of darkness, and he for all his power and abilities was still mortal.

They both knew their own feelings, and understood the others, but they couldn't take that final step into the forbidden.

At least…not yet.

For now they held each other tenderly, their foreheads touching one as they gazed deeply into one another. For the first time in a long time he could feel the heat rushing to his cheeks, staining his normally hoary complexion rose red. He couldn't help it as he blushed at the prolonged contact, struggling to keep his gaze at eye level. Him, a person who had slept around enough to lose count, and regularly bedded a Fallen Angel and a creature of Sin, was blushing like an innocent school boy.

He found his grip on her growing a little tighter at that thought. Maybe it was the overall innocence or purity that she gave off, but he could feel the barriers that he built up around himself slowly crumbling the longer that he stayed with her. It was great to be just Leo Aurelianus once again, and not Leo the Mercenary willing to do just about anything when offered enough in compensation.

Closer and closer, the distance between their lips measured in a scant few inches. At the last moment right before he claimed her succulent lips, he turned away, startling her.

"Leo?" She asked, placing a hand on his cheek.

"Are we really doing this?" He wondered. "What would your brother say if he saw us now? He doesn't like me to begin with."

Her grip tightened, and her eyes gained a hard look. If her wings had been visible they would've darkened, their color shifting to a grey-white.

"Of the many gifts that God gave to man, love has always been one of the most potent. Father watched and saw how it brought happiness and gave strength to those who followed their heart. Marriage is one of the sacred sacraments of the Church; do you think that my Father, the God who practiced agape would deny any of his children the chance to feel what it's like to be in love?"

"No." Leo answered. "But what would your Father say about us?"

She smiled sadly for a moment, before answering. "Love between angels was rare to begin with. The love between two of his greatest children even rarer. Of those that I know the greatest was perhaps between Hadraniel and Azazel." Seeing the disbelief on his face she continued. "Oh yes, he was once happily married, one of the lucky few among us to have found a partner to love with his whole heart. And Hadraniel loved him, some say even more than Father himself, but Father did not care. Here were two of his children enjoying one of the greatest gifts bestowed upon them, and he was content to watch, and smile at their antics."

She paused, a look of nostalgia passing on her face. "Back then Azazel was as far from the smooth charmer that he is now. He was a stuttering and awkward mess, who had no idea how to talk to a woman. It was Hadraniel who got tired of him skirting the issue, and one day after a mission confronted him. No one knows exactly what went on behind that closed door, at least no one besides Father, but when it opened Azazel had a goofy smile on his face and Hadraniel was smiling broadly."

"But then he betrayed her." Her voice hardened, as close to hatred as he thought an angel could get without Falling. "You've never seen an angel with a broken heart before, and pray that you never do. Angels are not only soldiers of God but also beings of love and light. When we love, we do not hold back, our souls intertwined with our partners. To have that love torn out and betrayed…there is nothing more tragic. For a hundred days and a hundred nights, the halls of Heaven were filled with Hadraniel's weeping. Nothing we did could comfort her, not even Father could shake her from her mourning."

Another pause, this one the longest one yet. He could feel her struggling with her emotions across the fledgling bond that they shared. The feelings and experience of a millennia old being almost completely overwhelmed him, his mortal mind unable to process the wealth of information that she had. But he knew enough to feel her struggling with sin, and one that he didn't think that she would ever struggle with, Wrath. Never before had he seen her angry, or even raise her voice, yet it seemed like this was the sin that she always struggled with. Underlying Wrath was another sin, Lust, and he promptly turned away refusing to even touch that sin with a hundred foot pole. He didn't want to know what the woman he loved was thinking, and while he may have been guilty of following Lust often, he at least had a semblance of control over it.

Placing his hands on her shoulders he tried to flood the bond between them with positive emotions, helping her keep control of her anger.

"Then when the hundredth night ended so did Hadraniel." He could see it in her memories, the majestic splendor of Heaven marred by the weeping of its angel. The image shifted to show a beautiful angel with long brown hair, hiding her face behind her hands as she wept. She knelt on the floor her hair splayed around her, and no matter what her brothers and sisters did she refused to be moved. Finally as the clock struck and a new day was beginning to dawn, she gave one final cry, before collapsing. Her body ignited in flames, the immolation so great that nothing was left but a stain on the alabaster marble.

The Angel who represented the Majesty of God was no more.

One angel moved to clean the spot. "Leave it!" A voice commanded, and all the angels froze at the command. The voice was one of resolute command, of unimaginable power and majesty.

"Father?" The voice came from his own lips, and he finally realized that he was watching the scene from Gabriel's memories. His mortal eyes were unable to perceive the existence that was the Biblical God in his true form. To try was to invite pain unlike any other as mortal's weren't meant to look upon the diving in all their splendor.

"Leave it, Daughter." The voice commanded once more, the ashes of one of his beloved children rising into the air and flying into an urn. "I look upon this spot and see the death of my child and the betrayal of another. Let it be known from now on, that Azazel is cast from Heaven, never to be offered redemption."

The scene ended, and he found himself looking into the eyes of Heaven's favored daughter. Only now her eyes weren't sparkling sapphires but dull blue, and moist with unshed tears. They embraced each other tightly, the memory affecting them both profoundly.

Suddenly he realized why Michael did not like him; he feared that what happened to Hadraniel would happen to Gabriel.

He would not let that happen.

"Some sins are too grave to ever forgive." She finished ominously. "But to answer your question. Yes, this is happening. "And as for what my brother may say, I don't care. I know what I'm feeling, and know what you're feeling. It is something that I'm willing to fight for and to go against all that I've ever known. As for what my Father may think…I'm sure that he would be happy for me. After all it's not every day that your oldest daughter finds a new meaning in her life."

As if sensing his thoughts, she held him tighter, moving to straddle his lap as she leaned her head against his chest. In the safety of her warmth he found his eye lids growing heavier and heavier, his ability to stave off sleep failing miserably.

"Rest now, my warrior." She sang, humming a long forgotten and sorrowful song, lulling him to Hypnos' embrace. Continuing to sing in time with his slowing heartbeat, until finally she was sure that he had fallen asleep, she choose not to pull away from his embrace. Instead she inched her way up so that their faces were level with one another as she worked her arms around him. She found comfort and security in his powerful embrace, and soon found herself drifting off to sleep. Her last thoughts were a sudden realization of why people enjoyed sleeping in their loved one's arms.


	10. Act I: Gabriel II

Chapter 10

When next he woke up the first thing that hit him was the stiffness throughout his back. Turning over he cursed, finding the source of his discomfort was the fact that he was sleeping on a solid wood pew.

"Good, you're awake." Gabriel said. She had abandoned her normal white clothing in favor of the female exorcist uniform with a long black surcoat. It took all his mental and physical control to stop blood from spurting from his nose like a fountain at the sight of her, and while he was used to seeing her in all white, she certainly knew how to wear black. In the distance he could hear Kala snorting, "You always did prefer black to white."

"Don't just sit there." She smiled, "come to me."

He nodded dumbly, unwilling to disobey the words of the goddess before him, and hopped to his feet ignoring his earlier discomfort.

She held up a single finger, her other hand cradling the elbow of that hand, pushing up her generous bust. "Reckless use of your power will cause your body to heat up, eventually leading to your death." She warned. "What I'm going to show you now are some exercises we teach to exorcists with higher than average Holy Light. It'll teach you to control your powers as well as giving your body time to adjust to using the power coursing through your veins. Each set of exercises is harder than the last and over time you'll be able to use more and more Holy Light without risk of killing yourself. While you'll never be able to fully utilize everything to the level of a Throne, it's safe to assume that you'll be able to hold your own against the Third and possibly the Second Sphere using Holy Light alone."

He could feel his jaw dropping in disbelief! The idea that any mortal being would be able to stand against an angel using their own element was ludicrous, yet here was one of the most powerful beings of Heaven telling him that he would one day be able to do so. At the same time the male part of his brain was once more imagining her dressed as a librarian or a teacher. Needless to say that he was having no trouble standing straight in either sense.

She smirked, an expression completely opposed to her normal ones, and something he had never seen her do before. Reaching out a hand she lightly grasped his chin before pushing upwards, closing his jaw shut with an audible clink. "Try not to look so stunned." She said, her eyes never drifting below his, and completely missing his lower reaction. Inwardly he sighed in relief as she stepped back and turned around, taking a moment to adjust his clothing, and to cast a subtle freshening charm over himself. "Now what I'm going to show you is how to draw out the Holy Light from within you."

"Is that why we're in a church?" He asked, pointedly looking at the surrounding icons and statues.

"Correct." She nodded. "In a place like this which is saturated with the Holy Element it'll not only be easier for you to draw it out but also less tiresome as you won't be taking so large a portion out of yourself but mixing a small bit of yourself with the existing element in the atmosphere to enact a miracle. This is something we do with all new trainees until they become comfortable enough in drawing out and controlling their power. Once they learn that we move them to areas that have less and less concentrations of Holy element before finally cutting them off completely."

"We don't have years for me to progress like a normal exorcist." He reminded.

"True at this moment we don't have months to train you."

He stiffened, understanding dawning on his face as he took in her words. He remembered the conversation that he had with her yesterday(?), he wasn't too sure what day it was to be honest. What she was proposing was crazy, I mean sure he meddled in temporal magics often, but he was trained in it, had access to the Magical Crest of the woman hailed as the living embodiment of Magic, and even still he only did so in a pocket dimension that way should anything go wrong he didn't take the rest of creation with him. He might've been an asshole but he wasn't a total dick.

For her to propose this method things, must've been bad.

"Now I don't expect you to master everything that I have to teach you, but I'm not letting you go until you have the absolute basics and you prove to me that you won't kill yourself the next time you draw on your holy light." She said, swiping at the air. A large circular wooden table appeared, and on it were three glass domes of varying size connected to each other with hollow tubes of glass.

Stepping closer he looked at it curiously, before his eyes widened in disbelief. Inside the largest of the domes was a large cathedral like structure, its beauty exquisite. "You have the Duomo di Milano…in a glass dome?"

"Your mother made it for me." She nodded, smiling at his recognition. Her fingers caressed the subtle runes carved into the glass, "Of course at the time I had been joking around, and didn't expect her to make me something so extravagant." He turned his eyes from the impressive gothic cathedral and looked at the smaller domes, one of which had an Italian style villa complete with a white sandy beach, and ocean waves. The last dome was simply a field with different equipment strewn about it.

He had the urge to facepalm as he felt his magic resonating with the construct. Only his mother would make something so outlandish on a whim, and only she would be crazy enough to link together several pocket dimensions trapping them inside another pocket. And only she would be insane enough to have the power source being a loop type, with the excess feedback being stored in a buffer.

Taking a quick peek at the buffer, peeling away all the layers of security his mother had weaved around it, he blanched.

When whatever Gabriel had planned for him was done he would have to take this away, as only his mother would give a person a proof on concept model with no safeties that in all likelihood would go off with the force of a bomb.

No, bomb was an understatement. What Gabriel had summoned was more akin to a portable apocalypse.

The buffer used to store the excess power generated was already dangerously full. She had probably been so ecstatic when she completed this proof that she immediately abandoned it and began working on a true prototype. Apathetic to the fact that she hadn't built in any safeties.

Only someone as eccentric as her would add a beach house villa, one of the most beautiful cathedrals in the world and a plain field into a proof on concept.

"Anyways, we'll be doing your training in here." She said waving her hand over the glass dome. "Time passes at the rate of 1:6 inside, and I'll be taking us back 6 months. In the real world 6 months will pass but inside the dome we'll have 36 months to ourselves. 3 years for you to pass my tests."

3 years. Alone. With the woman he loved.

If he wasn't so sure that fate hated him, he would've gotten down on his knees and given thanks. Someone up above was looking out for him, and it almost moved him to tears.

"Are you okay?" Gabriel asked concernedly, seeing the ecstatic look in his face.

"Everything's perfect." He smiled beatifically. "Shall we go on in?"

"Oaky." She answered, taking his hand. "Just a fair warning, I haven't really trained a person before, so this will be a learning experience for the both of us."

* * *

Training with Gabriel had proven…interesting.

She really hadn't had any idea on how to train a person, seeing as she was more an administrator rather than a trainer. Still though she was driven to succeed in training him to be the best, and had sought out help from one of her sisters, Sariel, who trained the elite armies of Heaven. Sariel, the Command of God, had given her a small little book filled with training tips, and drills for new recruits, designed to make the best use of their power.

And how he loathed that little black book.

When Gabriel had first brought it out, he couldn't suppress the shiver that ran through his body at the title. _Sariel's Pocketbook: How to Abuse a Training Recruit._

He had almost run away at the exercises that Gabriel was describing, and it made him realize how sturdy angels had to be in order to survive the training being described. He was sure that if implemented in any human army, activists would be screaming in outrage, and it only emphasized the point that they were really inhuman.

When he had tried to point out to Gabriel that he was just a human and wasn't capable of doing the things described, the tamest of which were high speed flying exercises through arguably lethal obstacles, she had simply smiled and ignited a light spear, telling him to hurry up and manifest his wings.

It had gotten worst from there as she would often scream and curse at him, her innocence shattered as she spat profanities bad enough to make sailors blush. In the back of his mind he wondered how she didn't Fall or better yet how Sariel could get away with screaming some of those things without Falling herself. The worst part was that he was pretty sure she didn't even understand half of what she was screaming, and that a good third of her insults and threats with anatomically impossible. At least he hoped.

Either way her training ranged from the normal:

Pushups, pullups, evasion.

To the Dangerous:

"You want me to fly in the stratosphere?"

"Yup." She nodded happily. "And you're not allowed to use any magic or take a breath. We need to build up your lung capacity."

To the Bizarre:

Honestly when was he going to need to throw a tomahawk while at the same time doing a backflip off a building. He grumbled to himself, as he relaxed on the beach shores, a hundred golden balls hovering around him, each one independently under his control.

While he loved his time with Gabriel, it had also revealed several things to him about her that he didn't know before. For one thing Sariel's book seemed to have awakened her inner sadist, and she sometimes giggled as she randomly threw light spears at him while in the middle of his exercises. Another thing was that she snored, and he wasn't talking about the light and cute snores that Vali sometimes made, but full on, "I can hear you from across the manor" snores. After that first night she had apologized profusely when he had come down from his room, with large bags under his eyes. For the next three days he worked tirelessly, to create a localized and targeted silencing ward around her, preventing her snores from waking him from his dreams. When combined with the insane training, it was a miracle that he was able to get it done in the short time span that he did, and afterwards he collapsed and nothing she did could wake him for the next 12 hours.

Now here he was on the cusp of graduating her hellish (or was it heavenly?) training. He was sitting on the beach, meditating, as he controlled an ever growing number of Holy Light balls. He smiled as he remembered how difficult it had been to summon even one light ball without overdrawing on his Holy Light. But once he had that feeling, replicating it had been easy, and he was now able to control hundreds of Holy Light Balls with ease, something that he was only able to do because of his skills in thought acceleration and memory partition.

Gabriel had confided in him that he was most likely unrivaled in terms of the amount of control for a human, and said that even most angels were unable to independently control more than 50 balls of Holy Light.

A feeling of pride welled up inside him, as he opened his mind up to the world, he could feel the overwhelming malice and hatred that poured into him, but at the same time he fought back. If he wasn't able to control himself in the presence of the malice of just one world, he'd never be able to reach his mother's and HER, level. _I will not bow._ He snarled, hurling his own hatred into the oncoming deluge. It wasn't enough, and he could feel himself faltering, and just as he was about to fail he felt another adding their own power to his own immense strength. The darkness faltered for just the briefest moment, allowing him to grasp it, and tear into it. With each chunk he tore he could feel himself growing stronger, the energy he had used in his training replenishing. After several minutes the flood abated, and he grasped the clear and pure power of the world, forcing it to become one with him.

His mind expanded past his body, and he began to see the Truth. He heard a voice, calling out in the wilderness. "O *****. The True Holy ***** ****** **********. ****** ******** Ambition of the King of Domination ******** ********** ****** ******* Blessing and Destruction. *** Announce ********** **** ****** **** Glow."

Though he could not hear everything, what he heard echoed in his very soul, but before he could delve any deeper into the mystery he felt something brush against one of his Holy Light spheres.

* * *

She had been watching him for some time now. His progress had been astounding, and she could feel her heart swell with pride at his every accomplishment. While a being such as her would normally be in danger due to an excess pride, it wasn't a pride in herself but in the man that she loved. That distinction is what kept her wings white.

No. Not white. Not anymore.

She gazed behind her, glancing at the 12 symbols of her power, once they were pure white, but no longer.

She had tried to hide it from Leo, to prevent him from feeling the guilt over her diminishing purity, but it was impossible. He had confronted her one day during their training session, dispelling the glamor she weaved with ease. In hindsight she should've known better than to try and fool a magician of his caliber with magic. That had shaken their relationship to the core, as Leo felt that it was confirmation of all his fears, that she would Fall if they were together, that he wasn't good enough for her (not that he would ever say otherwise, but it was a fear he harbored). It had taken all her skills in persuasion as well as smothering him in her feelings over their fledgling bond to pull him out of such thoughts and get him to focus on her and to ignore the changes she was going through.

2 years of constant companionship with Leo, and though their relationship hadn't progressed to that last forbidden step, progress had been made. Where at first they had cast fleeting looks at one another only to turn away quickly and embarrassedly, where once they only used subtle touches on one another, now things had grown a great deal more intimate. Leo had always been hesitant with her, always afraid to hurt her as if his touch would sully her. It was she that had forced him to change his mind that she wasn't a fragile porcelain doll. Things had been awkward between them at first, as she had no idea what she was supposed to be doing exactly to ensnare him and progress their relationship. She had no one to turn to for advice, and if she asked anyone in Heaven, then word would surely get back to her brother.

Things had progressed though, and as Leo got more and more comfortable with their relationship, they had grown more and more intimate. No longer were they exchanging fleeting looks and touches, instead she found herself regularly snuggling into his arms, relaxing in the heat of his core.

One of her favorite activities was when Leo groomed her wings. He knew from experience that many Angels and Fallen women took pride in keeping their wings beautiful, and she had jokingly told Leo that even her brother took great care in keeping his wings pristine. What many didn't know was that an Angel's, whether Fallen or not, wings molted like a bird. As such they were sometimes prone to getting pin feathers that needed to be plucked, and Leo knew exactly how to do it, making it swift and almost painless. She shivered in pleasure at the memory of his hand stroking her feathers, gently caressing the coverts while being careful not to damage her primary and secondary feathers. Considering that she had 12 wings, it was something that Leo had taken to doing on a weekly basis, going over her wings feather by feather, inch by inch.

She remembered their first kiss, the jolt that ran through her body, as their lips made contact. With every touch, every whispered word of love she could feel the void in her heart closing, and at that affirmation of love she could feel the bond between them solidify. When they had kissed her wings had unfurled, wrapping around them, as her power skyrocketed. Golden rays of Holy Light twisted and twirled with the slate colored rays from him. Nothing anyone did would be able to separate them; she knew this on an instinctual level, from that point forward. "Forgive me Father, for I have sinned." She whispered to herself, her fingers touching her lips as she thought back on their kiss. Her cheeks were dyed scarlet as a pang of jealousy shot through her heart. They only had a little more time together, then he would have to leave her, and she would have to go back to Heaven.

The smirking face of Cornelia appeared in her mind, the gloating look that the Fallen Princess shot her, made her blood boil. Her thoughts drifted back to the restaurant, to the meal that she had with Leo, those years ago.

 _He's mine._

Just seeing the look that the Fallen woman had when looking at her Leo, was enough to make her want to smite the Jezebel on sheer principle.

Leo was HERS! Mind, body, and soul! Just as she was his! "Forgive me Father." She repeated to herself, those three words having become a mantra that she repeated to herself every time such thoughts entered her mind.

As if on cue, the man she loved began to emit a golden hued glow, so different from the grey that he had once emitted. A sweltering heat expanded as golden hued wisps of flew around him like embers. The heat was so intense that the sand around him began to turn to glass, his golden aura protecting him from the intense heat. The amount of Holy Light balls floating around him doubled, then doubled again, and kept doubling until the entire sky was awash in Holy Light. Each one hung suspended like little stars, each one containing enough Holy Light to smite a Mid-Tier Devil and leave no trace of their existence.

The longer he stayed like this the stronger she could feel him getting, and it was then that she realized that he was attempting the same technique that his mother had utilized to become a God-Slayer.

She was about to interrupt him, but decided to hold her tongue, aware of what could happen should she break his concentration. Worriedly she watched as he was assaulted by the deluge of darkness, unable to even imagine what it would be like to attempt to stifle the torrent that was all the world's malice. What he was attempting to do, was a bastardized version of senjutsu developed for humans. While youkai had enough trouble trying to control themselves under the influence of senjutsu, the version he was trying to use was even worse, and her lover for all his strength was just human. She could feel him faltering against the overwhelming malice, and poured all her strength through the bond that they shared, granting him the blessings of a Seraph. Still though it wasn't enough, and fearing what would happen should he fail, she drew upon the System. "O Father. God of Gods who smote the wicked with your righteous power. Hearken now to his side, protect him." It was a simple thing what she said, but the words weren't important, what was important was the intent behind them. She did so without fear of the consequences of her actions, and using the System, she granted Leo the Blessings of Her Almighty Father.

His power increased exponentially and with it the System allowed Leo to enact a True Miracle. She could feel the darkness being slowly driven back, before finally it parted. She had expected him to be tired, but was surprised when his power suddenly ballooned, and for a moment she felt herself being awed by his presence. He was like the heart of the sun, a storm riding his wake, his very presence signaling disaster and change. For the briefest moments she could feel his consciousness brushing hers, as he achieved partial omnipresence. He was no longer just another living being doomed to die, but he was LIFE itself.

Then the feeling passed, and she let go the breath that she didn't know she had been holding. She had only felt such a feeling from one other human in all her existence, a woman whose name was spoken with reverence, who bore the title of Empress, and was dubbed a goddess even though she had no trace of divinity in her veins. That woman was Leo's Mother, a human who had surpassed the limitation of mortality and ascended past her mortal form to become a Primordial Force.

She moved closer, ready to assist him in case he needed help, and immediately stopped. The sphere that she had brushed caused a chain reaction and every sphere near her moved to intercept. She had seen the damage that Leo's spheres could do, and they were capable of not only attack but also reflecting attacks, allowing him to attack from impossible angles. A single attack while not too powerful grew stronger the more and more it ricocheted. After five rebounds it packed enough power to punch through solid armor and incinerate any devil below High-Class with a single graze. What was worse though was that the spheres could be used defensively by linking them together creating an aegis like shield that even she found difficult to penetrate without concentrating.

Now that she thought about it, it was unnatural how Leo was able to draw out so much of his Holy Light, as the amount should've burned out his body long ago. Maybe it had to do with his ancestry? But that didn't make sense, while it was true he was the son of two incredibly powerful people, and did inherit a powerful legacy, as far as she knew no one in his family had ever had an affinity to Holy Light. Pushing such thoughts away, she shook her head clear before calling out to him.

His icy eyes glowed with arcane might, before it receded.

"Gabriel." He answered, his voice sending shivers down her spine.

"Leo." She responded, walking towards him, the golden spheres parting for her. He stood up from where he had been sitting and met her halfway, his arms open.

"We don't have much time anymore." He commented sadly. The years that they had spent here together, with only each other for company had been like a dream come true, but like every dream the dreamer must eventually wake, and the dream end.

 _He's right._ She thought, mentally comparing the time inside their retreat to that of the outside world. They only had a week before they had to leave the dome. The entire area was saturated in Holy Energy not only from her unrestrained power but also from his, and in this environment it was ideal to train a Holy Light user, how the skills he gained here would translate to the real world where there wasn't as much Holy Light she wasn't sure. She had shown him how to draw on his own strength but he was still untested, and more than once she had felt him cheating and drawing power from his surroundings.

She wished she could be there by his side always, but knew that it was impossible. She had her own duties to attend to, and knew that Leo had his own responsibilities.

"Then I guess that we best make the most of what little we have left." She answered, her mind occupied by thoughts of the relationship once more. They hadn't taken that last step yet, not only because of Leo's reluctance but also her own fear. However as their time together dwindled she was reminded of the fact that soon Leo would leave her and go back to Cornelia's side.

She was so tempted to Smite her.

Making up her mind she left him there on the beach to mentally prepare herself.

Leo stared at her retreating back, wondering what exactly she meant before turning back around and looking up at the full moon, while fingering the solid platinum pendant he wore.

* * *

It was the last night before they were set to depart and Leo was to head back to Japan. They past week had gone by in a blur as Gabriel tried to cram as much knowledge and experience into his head as possible. They had spent most of the time sparring, her vast experience forcing him to devise new and clever strategies with each encounter. He could say with confidence that his control over Holy Light was exemplary and he was no longer restricted to forming spears, but was able to create any sort of construct that he imagined.

Now though he was relaxing in his room for the past 3 years, reading a grimoire, when he heard a knocking on his door.

Curious, he got up and moved towards the sound. Gabriel and he had long since ignored most boundaries with one another, and she hadn't actually knocked on his door in a very long time.

Opening the door revealed exactly what he expected, Gabriel standing outside, but there was something different. She was wearing her white robes once again, but there was something off about it. For some reason it seemed a bit tighter around the chest area than her normal clothes, and it offered an even better view. However it wasn't just her clothes but also her demeanor. She seemed…nervous? However he wasn't able to tell anymore as she was shielding her mind from his, occluding their connection.

"Leo." She said, sending shivers down his spine. If he didn't know better he'd have described it as a husky purr, but this was Gabriel, his sweet and somewhat innocent love.

She placed a hand on his chest and pushed him back into the room, and with a shove he toppled onto the bed.

"Gabriel?" He asked hesitantly, not at all liking the look in her eyes.

"My Leo." _Okay that was definitely a purr._ He thought scooting back on the bed. He was only able to move back little bit before he hit the headboard. That didn't stop her advance as she straddled his waist, wrapping her arms around him. "I don't want you to go." She whispered a stark contrast from voice she had been using just a minute ago. It betrayed her fear, and her sadness, exposing her vulnerable side to him.

He wrapped his arms comfortingly around her, protectiveness surging to the forefront. His head buried in the crook of her neck as he whispered words of love to her, as well as a promise. "I'll never leave you Gabriel."

A shiver ran through her body as she scooted back a little so that she could see his face. A perfect hand caressed the side of his face, as she smiled at him, and for the first time since they began their relationship spoke what she truly felt.

"Leo." "Gabriel." The both intoned, to the surprise of the other. In that moment their minds became one, and it wasn't two people confirming their feelings for one another, but a reaffirmation of what they had been afraid of.

""I love you.""

Three words. Three words that broke the dam holding back their feelings. Three words that were the key and set the stage for their future. Their love would not be fleeting! Like the saying goes, Love conquers all, and they would fight to be with one another forever!

The distance between them decreased and Leo felt her soft lips pressing against his, full of a surprising passion. That was when he realized exactly how much she had been holding back. How much he really meant to her that she would defy everything she knew and was thought, would go against her Father's wishes in order to be with him.

Where all their previous kisses had been chaste and hesitant this one was ardent as they pressed their bodies as tightly as they could against one another.

"Leo." She moaned, breaking the kiss and tilting her head to the side allowing him to suckle on her neck.

 _Mine._ Leo thought as he sucked and placed love bites on her neck.

She fumbled over the belt, before finally just cutting it off, her hand darting into his pants, causing him to groan. His hands caressed her body, and she couldn't wait to feel his touch against her skin.

"Wait." She stammered, causing him to freeze for the briefest moments. "Undress me."

Never before had he moved so fast in his life, nor so deliberately, not even when he had that threesome with Kalawarner and Cornelia. He stripped off her outer robe, his hand slowly taking off the silken fabric. Next he undid her golden belt, before sliding open her inner robe and baring the sight that was seriously said to be two of the greatest treasures of Heaven. Hesitantly and reverently he brought his hands up and stroked the bra clad breasts of the Most Beautiful Woman of Heaven. _God I'm sure you know that I don't really worship anything, seeing as my mother has made most of your compatriots terrified, but at this moment I would like to thank you for everything that has led me to this moment._ He thought, before that train of thought was derailed by thoughts of, 'They're huge', bigger than any Fallen he had ever seen and most importantly, 'So soft'.

Her breathing grew labored as he continued to play with her breasts, completely mesmerized. "Take it off." She panted.

He didn't waste time searching for a clasp, simply dragging his finger down the front of it and cutting it off. He was dumbstruck at their magnificence, the perfect shape, feeling, and size. She froze realizing that he was staring and the courage she had gathered earlier was starting to fail her. Then the thought of the man she loved being with that harlot, spurred her on and strengthened her resolve.

"You're perfect." He commented, causing her to laugh.

"I'm glad that you like them." She smiled, kissing him. "Nice to see that they're finally good for something besides giving me back pain and getting in the way."

"Oh they're so much more than that." He grinned, "They're soft."

He placed a kiss on the edge of her areola.

"Perfectly sized."

He kissed it again moving closer to her stiffening nipple.

"And best of all." He whispered, his tongue flickering the hardening nub. "They're a part of you." He gently bit down, drawing a mewl from her as her entire body stiffened, assaulted by sensations she had never felt before.

Taking the opportunity, he slipped her robe off her delicate shoulders, leaving her in nothing but white lace panties. A part of him was surprised at the how risqué it was considering that she was an angel, but he didn't question his fortune. Taking a hold of her firm ass he picked her up and swung her around so that she was leaning against the headboard.

"What are you doing?" She asked, as he placed a hand against her chest and slowly pushed her down.

"Shhh. Tonight is all about you." He said, licking his lips. He started at her neck, slowly making his way down to her molten core, laying a trail of love bites and kisses as he went. He was face to breast with her magnificent bust, basking in their glory before he started to pay them the attention that they demanded. Like a fine meal he didn't dive in, instead taking his time to savor each taste. His rough tongue circled her areola while his other free hand massaged her other breast.

"Ahhh." She moaned, gripping his hair and pulling his head closer to her chest. She squirmed under his ministration, as he looked up from where he was and saw her rapturous expression, and decided that it was too good not to continue. His tongue finally touched the erect nub, her breathing growing heavier with each passing second. He alternated between flicking his tongue across it and taking long laps that made her shudder under his tender mercies. Her other breast wasn't left alone however as his free hand lightly rolled her nipple, keeping it occupied for the moment.

She cried out as he began to suck on it, as he pinched her other one. A spasm wracked her body, causing him to smile as the unfamiliar sensation took its toll on her. "What was that?" She panted.

"That was your first orgasm." He answered. "And by the end of the night it'll be something you won't be able to live without."

Kissing the side of her breast and the valley in between he moved to her other breast and lavished it just as he had the other. Once that was done he continued to make his way down, taking his time to explore every nook and cranny of her porcelain skin, marking her as his own.

Finally though he came to her hot core, and gripping the knot on one side pulled and her panties came right off. He took a moment to stare at it, his hot breath sending shivers throughout her body as they hit her sensitive clit.

He caressed the smooth and pouty lips, running his whole hand up and down her hot snatch. But instead of diving in he pulled away, and continued his way down her body, kissing, sucking, and lightly biting her smooth thighs and legs. She giggled and squirmed as he placed a kiss on each of her toes, before he made his way back up the other leg until they were level with one another once more.

 _She's ticklish._ He mentally grinned as he began to pet her womanhood. He placed his hand over her hot cunt, and making sure to watch her face, gently put pressure on her clit.

The look that passed her face was one that he would remember until his dying days, as her eyes bulged and her mouth let loose a silent scream. Seeing this as the perfect time for payback for her Hellish (Heavenly?) training, he placed a thumb on either side and wiggled the vulnerable nub back and forth, enjoying the hissing sound she made as she sucked in air.

"Leo!" She managed to stammer, surprising as her entire body was tensing and relaxing as orgasms ripped through her.

He came back up and gently licked and sucked at the base of her neck, as his hand moved down slightly. She froze, feeling his finger probing at her entrance, but any fear that she may have felt was blown away as he made his way up her neck and gently bit down on her earlobe. "Soon, my love. Soon." He whispered making his way down once more. His face approached her smooth and beautiful flower, and he attacked.

A rough tongue flickered across her sensitive clit, as his fingers began to slowly probe her insides. Her hips gyrated guiding him to her most sensitive spots, as her hands gripped his hair and her legs tightened against him. She was incredibly tight, almost like a vise as he softly stroked her insides. Curving a single finger upwards he brushed against her g-spot as he sucked on her clit.

"AHHHHHH!" She screamed in rapture.

 _Damn._ He swore as she tightened her legs around him, her pussy gushing as her juices squirted all over his face. She went limp under his attention, but he didn't care as he continued to take long licks of her pussy, lapping up her sweet nectar.

When she was finally nice and clean, he moved up to see her smiling goofily, an expression he mirrored as he kissed her, feeding her her own essence. "Sweet." She commented.

"Not just sweet." He reassured, "divine."

She snuggled against him, recuperating her strength, steeling her courage for what was about to happen. Leo though he had a nasty case of blue balls at seeing the sight before him, held back, and embraced her, not pushing her towards anything she would rather not do.

After several minutes, she looked at him and kissed his chin, sensually whispering. "I'm ready."

"It's going to hurt." He warned, stroking her, trying to get her as wet as possible.

She nodded, before shifting him so that he was on top of her, allowing her to wrap her arms around him. "Make me yours."

He positioned himself, his tip ready to spear into her as he looked into her eyes. "I love you."

"I know." She answered, biting her lower lip as he pushed into her.

He could see tears forming in her eyes, so he stopped, allowing her to get used to his girth, his head pressed against her final barrier.

"Kiss me." She commanded, and he did. In that moment several things happened. The first was her wrapping her legs around his waist as she pulled him into her. The second was the tearing feeling he felt as he pierced through her maidenhead. The third was her crying out in pain as she bit down on his lip, causing him to bleed.

Their bleeding lips, hers from when he first entered her and his from taking her maidenhead, touched, and their blood began to mix. Together they embraced each other, the mixed blood dripping down her magnificent chest and pooling in the valley between.

There was time for questions later, and he had one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen baring herself to him. It started slowly, a gentle rocking of his hips as he sawed into her in small increments. Her fingers clawed into his back drawing blood, as her powerful legs pulled him towards her. Her incredibly tight passage clamped down on him, stimulating every inch from the base to the crown. After several minutes of gentle thrusting he could feel her relaxing just a bit and he began to thrust into her faster and harder, building up a powerful rhythm. Pulling back until just the tip was left, he felt her needy cunt trying to suck him back in, before he obliged and buried his entire length into her, his head butting against her cervix. On his next thrust he slammed into her piercing through her and settling into her womb. "Father forgive me." She stammered before screaming out a curse.

Panting as her velvety folds gripped him, he didn't even try to stifle her screams. Those screams turned into moans of pleasure as he continued to spear himself deeply into her, hammering her as hard and fast as he could.

Hooking a hand underneath her he shifted her so that she was on top. Rather than rocking her hips back and forth she bounced on his cock, his hands gripping her waist tightly as she rode him for all he was worth. At one point she simply held herself aloft, as his hips slammed upwards as quickly as he could. She preferred to pull out until just his head was left before crashing back down, a mini-orgasm racking her body on every deep thrust.

His hands came up and cupped her large breasts, as he leveraged them and forced her back onto him. Fingers pinched her erect nipples, eliciting cries of pain and pleasure from her.

Wrapping his arms around her he sat up, and began to suck on her breasts, licking around her nipples before biting down on them. She lost all strength in her legs, unused to squatting and pushing off, so instead he gripped her by her waist and lifted her up and down like a sleeve, as she threw her head back and let loose a long guttural cry, collapsing into his embrace.

Her mind was clouded from the mind-numbing sensations that she was feelings, and she could feel the pressure building in her lover's mind. _He's not going to last much longer._

It was true, with their minds and bodies connected they were unable to hide anything from one another and Leo felt his own release approaching. "I'm going to cum." He panted.

"Hold on." She moaned. "Let's cum together."

"I need to pull out now." He said through gritted teeth.

But she would have none of that as she forcibly held him down and continued to bounce on her cock. "Gabriel!" He screamed feeling his climax approaching.

"Leo!" She screamed, the largest orgasm of the night ripping through her as she slammed every inch of his wonderful manhood into her, the head firmly buried in her womb. 12 glistening silver wings burst from her back, as enough power radiated from her to smite a Maou Class Devil with a single strike. The entire upper floors of the manner that they were in were literally vaporized at the amount of Holy Light pouring out. The power was so great that he feared it would crack through the barriers of the pocket dimension, but thankfully it didn't.

The feeling of being in her vulnerable womb was too much for him as he unloaded everything he had. A torrent of hot cum flowed into her, as he released so much that within seconds it began to leak from her pussy.

He could feel her consciousness brushing against his, stronger than ever before as the bonding was completed. Just like that her wings receded, leaving him a somewhat drained Gabriel on top of him. "Thank you." She said kissing him as she wiped away a small tear. _Everything's perfect._ She thought to herself as she snuggled into his embrace. _And he's a cuddler._

"Thank you." He replied, holding her tightly, his softening dick slipping free from her tight snatch. With the plug gone his cum began to leak from her gaping pussy, staining the bed pink. "Want to do it again?"

"In a few minutes." She answered. "For now let me enjoy the moment."

True to her word she was ready to go again in a few minutes, and neither one of them got much sleep that night.


	11. Act I: A Time to Say Goodbye

Chapter 11

Neither one of them wanted to stop, and they didn't until the sun peeked over the horizon. However all good things must come to an end and this was no exception.

Both of them stumbled down the stairs, bone-tired but sporting identical goofy grins. Gabriel was literally glowing as she glided across the floor, and Leo was in a similar state, practically skipping as he moved to make them breakfast.

"You know I haven't been this tired in a long time." Gabriel said collapsing into the couch. He couldn't help but stare at her nude form lounging on the sofa, and with a negligent wave of his hand enchanted the various tools in the kitchen to begin cooking their meal. Moving to the couch where his lover lay, he pulled out a small pouch that he always had with him to help his lovers recover in the morning. It had been a long time since he last used it as Cornelia hadn't been sore since they began to experiment with one another. Opening the pouch he pulled out several small vials, before making up his mind and putting all but one of them away. Slowly undoing the top he fanned the fumes, the scent of lavender and vanilla eliciting a groan from the tired Gabriel. Starting with her head he gently rubbed her temples and forehead, running his hands through her golden locks gently applying pressure.

"Uhhh." She moaned as he continued to massage her head, his hands working every spot, gradually moving down.

"There's no need to worry." He reassured, moving from her head to her ears. She shivered in sheer pleasure, her legs rubbing together as his deft fingers rubbed the sensitive cartilage. "You're just unused to moving like you did. Trust me, the more you experience it the better you'll get." Letting go of her ears he gently bit one before whispering sensually into her ear. "And I plan on us spending many nights together." She almost whimpered at the loss of his touch as well as the promise that his voice held.

Smiling, he poured some of the oil onto his hands and rubbed them together warming it up. Applying it to her back he worked in long strokes, getting her used to his touch. His fingers together, thumbs parallel as he moved up and down her hot flesh. He paid special attention to her shoulders and neck making sure to massage all the kinks out of them, pushing down and compressing the area to get the blood flowing and her muscles to relax. She was putty in his hands, letting loose another groan as he dug his thumbs into those trouble spots and began to work the knots out of them. He alternated between the deep shiatsu and the sensual stroking that made her gush.

Finally he moved down, grasping the firm mounds of her ass, his palms massaging them. He smiled as his lover's breathing grew ragged and hitched as he kneaded the supple area, concentrating on one cheek before switching to the other cheek and giving it all the loving care that he did the other.

Next were her legs and paid them special attention figuring that she would be sore from all the squatting and up and down motion that she had done the previous night. He started by stroking her thighs and calves, gradually building up pressure before kneading and slightly caressing her with feather light touches.

"Mmmm." She moaned contently as his hands worked their way down to her feet and using his thumbs massaged her arches. Starting at the heel he worked his way up, his touch gentle yet firm.

He cast a quick glance at the kitchen, making sure that the food wasn't burning before he moved to her voluptuous chest. "Leo!" She moaned as he massaged her chest. She sat up allowing him access to her perfect torso, He watched her reactions with laser-like focus, seeing exactly what she liked and what got her hot. His hands roamed her chest, and made small circular movements on her skin, before gently doing the same to the whole breast. With light touches his fingers danced across her nipples, teasing and causing her to squirm and moan, begging for it to end.

But he denied her.

His fingers moved away from the pert nipples instead kneading her flesh as he kissed the crook of her neck and made sure to leave his Mark behind.

She whimpered as he came back to her nipples playfully tugging and pinching them until finally she gave a loud moan and soaked the leather underneath her with her juices.

Leo grinned down at her flushed face as she leaned against his chest, a cute pout on her face. "That was mean." She said. "You know how tired I am yet you're getting me all hot and bothered anyways."

"I know." He said, kissing her pouty lips. He embraced her from behind, content in the warmth that they shared, until a small jolt went through him signaling that their breakfast was ready. With a snap of his fingers he brought it to them, a plate of succulent food hovering in front of her. Unwrapping his arms from around her he picked up the utensils and spearing a potato brought it to her mouth. "Eat. You'll feel better once you get some food in you."

"I'm not a child." She whined, though she took the food in without hesitation. "You don't need to feed me."

"I know." He answered, scooping up some eggs. "But I want to."

She took a bite of the eggs before creating another set of utensils this one made of light. "Turnabout's fair play." She smiled, seeing his raised brows. Shrugging his shoulders he took the offered food, and they alternated feeding each other, until the plate was clean.

"I'm going to miss this." She said, snuggling closer

"As will I." Holding out the palm of his hand he created a small magic circle above it and connected it to his dimensional gallery. A small necklace appeared in his hand, its intricately carved silver links held countless runes and enchantments weaved into it, powered by a central heart shaped sapphire the color of both their eyes. Undoing the clasp he put it around her neck and secured it with a small spell.

"I don't have anything to give to you." She said sadly, fingering the sapphire that rested on her ample breasts.

"You've already given me the greatest gift that you could." He said kissing her neck.

They lounged their on the couch watching as the sun rose bathing the destroyed manor in its warming rays.

"You know I don't think I ever asked this but, this entire area has been really realistic." Gabriel commented lightly.

"My mother doesn't do anything half-assed." Leo responded grudgingly. "In a way I wouldn't be surprised if the areas we've been living in were really pieces of parallel dimensions that she shaved off and transported to this pocket dimension."

"When you put it like that, I'm unfortunately reminded of how insane your mother really is."

"You don't know the half of it." He grumbled, shivering as memories of his mother's more 'brilliant' ideas resurfaced. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." She said evasively.

He narrowed his eyes in frustration before swiping at the air above her head. A golden halo materialized above he, and he let loose the breath that he had been holding in fear. "I was so worried." He said, holding her tightly.

She pushed him away, glaring at him hotly. "It was my choice." She all but snarled. "I love you Leo, and that's that. We're bound together, so get over your fears and accept the fact that I care about you, and that's all that matters!" What started as a heated tirade grew softer with each word.

His grip on her grew possessive, as he stared right back at her. "Never!" He spat. "Never for a moment think that I don't know that we're bound together. That we'll be together forever! I love you Gabriel, but I didn't want you to have to choose between your family and me."

Their faces were close to one another, and he moved in for a kiss, their tongues intermingling as he poured some of his power into her. She stiffened at the sudden influx of power, her entire body growing flush and hot, as she all but threw him onto the floor.

Growling she ground herself against his hardening member as they deepened their kiss.

"Gabriel." He hissed, as she pinned his arms above his head with Light shackles and had her way with him. "We're going to be late."

"So?" She asked dumbly, before moving to kiss the side of his neck.

"YEOWWW!" He yelled, feeling her teeth sink into his neck. He hadn't felt pain like that since a Vampire managed to nip him when he was drunk.

"Oh no!" She stammered, moving to his face. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that, I was just trying to do to you what you did for me."

Her eyes were watery, and there was an adorable expression on her face that made it impossible to be mad at her, so he did what anyone else would do. He sighed, and said. "It's okay, just do it gently from now on."

She nodded, and he felt his heart melt a bit more as she went back to his neck and gently bit and sucked on the tender flesh. He squirmed under her, her deft, silky and hot tongue lapping at his skin, sending shivers down his spine.

"Gabriel. We really need to go!" He repeated, watching as the sky began to crack.

"It doesn't matter." She responded, continuing to grind against him.

 _Well fuck._ He thought grimly. _I have this beautiful woman going down on me yet this dimension is about to crack. Should've known it was going to happen after our little display last night. Worst part is that it's probably going to go before I can blow. Best case scenario we escape the collapse and I have the world's worst case of blue balls. Yeah…this sucks._

Thanking God once more that he was a magician he split his mind one part enjoying the feeling of Heaven's Favored Daughter kissing and lapping at his skin, while the other part began going through the calculations necessary for them to escape the collapsing dimension that they were in.

Her full breasts pressed against his leg as she deliberately made her way down his chest, planting worshipful kisses and bites. He almost bit his tongue in surprise as she stared up at him, her sparkling cerulean eyes full of mischievousness and lust. A shiver went down his back at the fierce intensity that they held, and as she moved below his waist she smiled at him.

Nimble fingers traced the skin of his thighs, her manicured nails leaving red scratches in their wake.

They both paused, Gabriel staring at his hardened member, her hot breath causing it to twitch in expectation. Leo's mind froze all his thought processes focused on her as one thought began to dominate his mind. _She isn't going to…_

Was all he managed to form before she tentatively licked the tip, a pearl of precum on her tongue as she tasted his seed.

 _I must be dreaming._ He thought to himself as her face scrunched up, her tongue darting and licking her lips as she tried to figure out whether or not she liked the taste.

It was impossible to turn away from this vision of beauty tasted his essence. It was even harder not to gape when she went back for a second taste, softly kissing up and down his shaft, gently licking over the engorged tip, her tongue swirling over the head and tracing the crown.

 _I'm in Heaven._

He threw back his head and moaned as her kisses worked their magic on him. The sultry goddess before him glowed in delight, shivers running down his spine as she pulled back, the tip of his cock leaving with an audible pop.

She giggled, in excitement, feeling the power that she had over him as she moved back in, kissing the base and licking the entire shaft in one long lick.

 _Fuck!_ He mentally screamed, once more losing control of his magic and the calculations he was running. He could've wept when she pulled away, even if it was for the briefest of seconds. Her delicate yet strong hands gripped his shaft, guiding the tip back into her mouth as she jerked his cock.

She licked the tip, her hot tongue covering every part of the swollen head, moaning as she felt the pulsing of his hot cock. Slowly she took him deeper and deeper, as her lack of a gag reflex made itself apparent. He watched her wide-eyed as his entire length disappeared down her throat, its thickness pushing against the walls of her throat.

She stared at him with teary sparkling sapphire eyes, as she was grateful for once that she didn't need air to breath. It would've been impossible to do so with his cock cutting off almost all circulation.

Both of them didn't care though, as Leo shamelessly moaned as her throat constricted like a vise against his head. Bobbing her head, inch after inch rubbing against her moist succulent lips, her tongue never leaving the underside of his shaft.

His eyes rolled back, basking in the pleasure that she was giving to him, as he desperately refrained from grabbing her head and burying his cock back into the warmth of her throat.

As if sensing his distress she began to suck him back up, with a moan. Her vacuum like blowjob started with his tip, sucking it back in as she swirled her tongue over his head. Deft fingers rubbed up down his shaft, stroking him until his cock was a twitching mess in her hands.

Her fingers moved to his hip, and in a single fluid motion she took him to the base, his eyes going wide in shock at her action. He hadn't expected that from her.

The shackles that chained his hand shattered as her concentration shifted, and he ran his hands through her silky hair. Brushing that hair aside, he savored the intoxicating image of the woman he loved's mouth on him. the urge to grip her hair tightly and thrust with reckless abandon rose with each passing second, and it took everything he had to resist.

The pressure was building up as she took him deep in her mouth and throat, her sensual moaning spurring him on, demanding his seed.

"Uhhhhh." He groaned, his hand unconsciously tightening on her hair as he emptied his balls into her waiting mouth.

She swallowed instinctively, moaning in appreciation as the salty fluid made its way down her throat.

Spent, he all but collapsed against into the chair, as the most beautiful of Angels pulled away, and licked at him tenderly. Taking long languid licks until he was clean, she kissed the head one last time before snuggling up to him, laying gently kisses against his neck and shoulders.

"Don't leave me." She whispered into his ear. There was a slight tinge of fear in her voice, the desperate longing that drove her to want to lock him up. She knew that she was firmly in his heart, but still he was leaving her, to go back to that den of Crows and sin.

He held her tightly, watching their last few moments in this paradise like world. No matter how much he wanted this dream to never end, he knew it would, and the proof was in the spiderweb cracks forming in the sky. "I have to." He said sadly.

"Promise me." He turned and looked at her sapphire eyes. "Promise me that you'll come back to me. That no matter what we'll be together forever."

Smiling, he placed a chaste kiss on her ruby lips. "I promise."

There on the dying plane of existence they exchanged their vows, and with nary a whisper they disappeared, the fake world of dreams collapsing in their wake.

END OF ACT I: Seeds of Fall


	12. Act II: A Divine Encounter

Chapter 12

 _This is the life._ He thought to himself, sipping at a scotch that cost more than some people made their entire lives. The fine alcohol made its way through his system, and while nowhere near potent enough to make him drunk he enjoyed the liberating and relaxing feeling it caused.

Caressing the peerless Lalique glass that held the amber liquor he couldn't help but grin. _Ah the joys of memory modification. It's amazing what you can do with them._

The room was currently configured to be similar to an old Gentlemen's club, complete with comfortable leather chairs, a roaring hearth, and stained bar that several patrons were sitting at.

Quite a few eyed each other in displeasure, but made no move against each other, aware of the restrictions that were engrained in every speck of this realm. He couldn't help but smirk at the looks that Zeus and Jupiter were sending one another, little bolts of lightning and electrical current running through their figures. Towards the back of the room, puffing on cigars were their Brothers Hades and Pluto, who instead of glaring at one another decided to cooperate and glare at the two Sky Gods.

Ah, good old Romans and Greeks, the puerile antics of the two schizophrenic Pantheons were enough to make anyone smile. Taking another sip of the sweet and smoky drink, he almost laughed as Zeus and Jupiter both stood up from opposite ends of the bar and began to walk towards one another.

Several of the other patrons caught his eye, and before they were even close to one another money was changing hands. The two Gods closed in, nose to nose, causing several patrons to groan and pass money to others.

Leo allowed a small smile to blossom on his face as Volturnus spat and pushed a dozen aurei towards him, which he promptly scooped up and placed in his pocket. Every patron watched in rapt attention as the two opposing Gods stared at one another, their Divine powers beginning to manifest, their physical bodies growing larger in size.

He was on the edge of his seat, waiting for the blow to come.

"Your wife is a Cow." Jupiter sneered.

Silence.

Several patrons, including himself, felt their jaws drop at the sheer audacity of the insult. It seemed like mothers and wives were no longer off-limits.

He didn't know who started it, a small giggle, but within moments it had grown into raucous laughter that infected everyone but the two Gods. Zeus red-faced, his words failing him, took a swing at his Roman counterpart.

Pillars of light surrounded both Gods as a sound like breaking glass followed by screaming filled the room. When the pillars disappeared both Gods were gone, and in their place stood two women. Both were dressed in immaculate white peplos and carried golden scepters. The one on the right hand beautiful hair like spun gold while the other had shimmering raven tresses. Both were classical beauties, their features steady, unlike many other goddesses who changed themselves on a whim.

"It seems like our Fathers forgot the rules." The one with golden hair said.

"Dearest Eirene, it was your father that broke it."

"It was your father that started it Pax." Eirene responded, shooting her Roman counterpart a small frown.

Pax and Eirene, Roman and Greek goddesses of Peace, proprietors of an entire realm that was neutral to the affairs of petty squabbles between Pantheons. The realm was split into different sections, catering to the whims and desires of any being that stepped foot within its confines. There was only one rule.

No violence.

Breaking or even thinking about breaking the rule would lead to an immediate ejection from the realm. The severity of the breach reflected the severity in which you were forcibly ejected. He had once seen a group of mercenaries get a bit too rowdy after a pint too many. The floor had literally swallowed them up, razor ceramic like teeth snapping closed with a resounding click. A moment later everything was back to normal not even a seam or mark to indicate where the ground had rose up to devour the offenders.

At that moment he swore never to get on the bad side of that pair of Goddesses. They may have embodied the concept of Peace but even Peace had a limit.

Not to mention the fact that they came from Pantheons that weren't known for their forgiveness, but wrath.

"Still, I think a little punishment is in order." Eirene said grimly, turning to the rapidly paling patrons left within the room.

"I agree." Pax nodded, a ferocious grin on her face. "I think some time with our fellow goddesses will do them some good."

"Look at them, lounging in this gentlemen's club, sipping their poisons, smoking their expensive cigars." Eirene commented.

"Not a care in the world." Pax remarked. "Let's change that."

 _Crap. Stercus. Σκατά._ That was the general thought that passed through the minds of the various patrons as the two goddesses raised their hands in sync and snapped their fingers.

* * *

The elegant, refined, yet relaxed atmosphere of the gentlemen's club shifted away to reveal a mass of undulating bodies in various states of undress. Techno music blasted throughout the room as fog machines emptied their payloads. Lights of varying colors flashed to the beat of the 'music', and he soon found himself surrounded by a dozen women grinding themselves against him.

Men and women of all races danced and ground to the music, however he noticed one thing in common that all of them had, a glazed almost euphoric look. If it was just dancing he could've lived with it and made his way out, but it was more. On the periphery of his senses he could feel a numbing feeling slowly eating away at any and all his inhibitions.

 _Damn Goddesses._ He thought to himself, strengthening his mental barriers. _Only they would drop me in the middle of a Bacchanalian Revel._

Forcing himself away from the center of the revel, pushing his way through dozens of intoxicated, and high patrons he tried to find the exit; only to stop short as someone grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled, temporarily cutting off his breath.

Glaring over his shoulder proved to be a mistake as he was hit by the full power of a Goddess' divine might.

"Now where do you think you're going?" The enchanting woman asked with a small pout on her face.

"Away." He answered tersely, flaring his magic in order to begin computing the formulae required to teleport himself away.

As if in response her own might flared to life and easily dispelled his power. He may have been able to one up just about every other mortal mage but he was still mortal and compared to a divine being was little more than an ant. "Now why would you want to do that?" She asked, phrasing the question as if the obvious answer was that he shouldn't. "I seem to recall you taking part in these before."

"That was then." He said stiffly, futilely struggling in her grip.

"Oh?" She asked quirking a delicately plucked eyebrow. "Back then you were with Cornelia, and that didn't stop you."

With a slight tug she had dragged him into her embrace, her voluptuous and full body pressing against him. "It didn't stop you from making me scream in ecstasy as you ravaged my body, as I took you to the height of pleasures mortals can bear. Very few Magicians are daring enough to call upon a goddess, fewer still would attempt to bed one, and only a handful in all of history would have their wish granted."

Her chin rested on his shoulder as she whispered huskily into his ear. "Come with me." It wasn't a question but a command as the world blurred around them and he found himself suspended above the crowds lounging on a red chaise lounge barely big enough to fit the two of them.

"What was the point of saying that if you were going to do it anyway?" He spluttered, running a quick spell through himself to make sure everything was where it was supposed to be. He didn't trust anyone when it came to teleportation, having heard too many horror stories from other mercenaries and assassins. He found himself being turned over so that they were staring face to face to one another.

"Tell me, how have you fared? It's been a while since that night." Her voice was layered with compulsions, each one attempting to break through his mental defenses. The sad part was that it was a natural part of her and even at this stage he had difficulty in resisting, and if she tried he'd be putty in her hands.

"I have been well." He said respectfully fully aware that he was at her mercy.

"And Cornelia?" She asked. "The two of you were such a cute couple. It reminded me of the ancient days with my people's heroes and princesses." Her eyes took on a nostalgic look as she thought back to those bygone days "It almost made me want to drop some challenges and hardship upon you, to strengthen that love."

He froze at her words his mind wondering exactly a goddess of her caliber would do to them in order to "test" their love.

"But alas I didn't." She sighed. So tell me how has your love flourished?"

"Things are good between us." He replied simply, hoping that the answer would be sufficient for her

"Really?" The Goddess asked with narrowed eyes. Coming closer she took a dainty sniff of his neck. "I didn't know that Cornelia was okay with you sleeping with other women." Taking another sniff she smiled coyly. "If so she's a far cry from the clingy possessive women that attempted to stare me down when found out all the dirty and nasty things that we did together." By the end of her sentence her voice had grown throatier and more seductive, as she lightly bit his ear. "Hey, let's do it again."

"What?" He spluttered, his back pressed against the back of the chaise as he attempted to put as much room between himself and the goddess next to him. However considering the size of the couch that they were on that was barely anything.

"That night." She purred. "That perfect night. Clothes ripped to tatters, ichor and blood on our hands as we clawed and pawed at one another. Our entwined bodies, slick with sweat. The lust and passion burning through our loins as you ravished me on the Temple of Urania's Steps, Selene high in the night sky, her blessed light illuminating our naked forms." Her hand lovingly stroked his face. "You filled me that night, curbed a hunger that had been gnawing at me for years. The time away has weighed heavily on me, made me crave something that has eluded me for eons."

"Hey Leo." She whispered, her voice a sensual whisper that burrowed insidiously into his mind. "Be mine."

With that she pulled him into a searing kiss, her body pressed against his. The small part of his mind that had managed to resist the compulsions of the goddess before him was shocked at the hunger that the kiss conveyed. It wasn't a kiss of love, but bestial desire that had led to men razing civilizations to taste. Where before her Divine might had been tightly controlled and suppressed so as not to affect the rest of the world, now it was fully unleashed.

Tearing his eyes away from the divine being he saw the masses below degenerating into a massive orgy of blood, violence, and sex. Mortals weren't meant to be exposed to the untempered power of Divine Beings and what was happening below was proof that their mere existence on the mortal plane was enough to influence the masses.

Almost unwillingly he found himself melting into her embrace, pulling her voluptuous figure tightly against his body. "That's it." She moaned, tilting her head so that he would have access to her neck. "Forget about all your worries, and dedicate yourself to me. No harm shall come to you, your enemies will be my enemies, your allies my allies."

The couch that they were on expanded and became a large bed, as her lover wrapped himself around her, his weight driving her deeper into the mattress' soft embrace.

Squirming under her ministrations, his head buried in the crook of her neck as he suckled at the sensitive flesh, she let loose a lusty moan. The sound was indistinguishable among the many that were echoing throughout the area they were in, the orgy below reaching a new height in response to the Goddess' ecstasy.

Contrary to her aggressive passion from before Leo took his time, reveling in her slight submissiveness, his tongue slowly lapping at her skin. His hand came up and gently fondled her breast, as his right cupped her sex.

Slowly his hand rubbed itself up and down her breast, his palms caressing the pert nipples that began to harden at his touch.

 _This is what I need._ She thought to herself gleefully. Here was a man that knew how to make love not just bang away at her, spurt his weak seed then roll over and fall asleep. _So much better than that stupid and juvenile God of War._

"Ahhh." She moaned feeling his fingers slowly rubbing her lower lips, so glad that she foregone wearing anything underneath her clothes. Deft fingers worked her hot center, a fingers spreading the lips apart to expose the pink valley between.

She smiled giddily as a finger carefully probed her depths, only for her breath to hitch as he began to lightly nip at her neck. Her breathing grew heavier as his fingers worked her sex, a second finger joining in with the first. "That's it." She moaned. "Lower…no right there…YES! THAT'S IT!"

Throwing her head back she let loose a banshee like scream as his fingers lightly pinched her sensitive button, her fingers savagely tearing his belt apart, before her hand darted down his pants.

 _I've missed this._ She thought. While it wasn't the biggest she had ever seen or felt, it was one that she had personally trained. That very first night when she had taken her lover's virginity, every action she had imparted had been taught to pleasure her. She could feel herself growing moist at the thought of his tool ravaging her insides, her tight hole molding itself to fit him like a velvet glove.

His fingers thrust in and out of her hot snatch making a wet and squishy sound that turned her on the more she heard it. Gyrating, and grinding herself against his hand she tried to get his fingers deeper into her, but he would have none of that. His weight held her down, and while she could've used her divine strength to push him off and take command she did not. His dexterous digits hit all her sensitive sweet spots, as he played her like a maestro his chosen instrument. Convulsing in pleasure she shuddered and moaned in sensory overload, as a powerful orgasm ripped through her body. Her pussy turned vise-like preventing him from removing his fingers, his nails scraping against the flesh of her inner walls.

When his fingers curled upwards and brushed against her g-spot, the world exploded in light, as she screamed in ecstasy. Her wail was accompanied by hundreds of others as every person below having been linked together by her divine might screamed in pain and pleasure.

Her mind recovered only to feel his other hand carefully tweaking her nipples, just enough to cause a bit of pain and pleasure, his fingers lightly caressing her pink areolas, as the hardened nubs poked against his defined chest.

Her face flush with heat from, glowed even more as their faces leveled to one another. This time it wasn't her initiating the kiss but him, as their tongues dueled each other with finesse, and she melted against him. She groaned as he pulled his fingers out of her and moved them back and forth over her plump limps.

Her fingers tightened around his cock, furiously pumping the organ. He was putty in her hands, his body tensing as muscles twitched and his face took on a look of frustration.

 _That's it._ She smirked, seeing and more importantly feeling the lust building up within him. She was a Goddess, and had been manipulating mortals for millennia, and what they were doing right now fell directly under her domain.

She was Supreme.

She reveled in the power that she had over him, her concentration almost being broken as he plunged his fingers back into her tight snatch. "I'm close, love." She grinned, biting his ear, and putting both her hand down his pants. One hand feverishly jerked him off while the other massaged his balls.

"I'm going to cum for you." She moaned, feeling a fourth finger slip into her pussy. Abruptly her hands stilled as she felt his hand on her ass. She tensed as his hand moved lower going under her skirt and touching her ass. "Oh, you dirty dirty boy." She whimpered, as a finger circled her tightest orifice. "I'd smite anyone who dared take such liberties with me."

Crying out in surprise, as his finger invaded her asshole. "But for you I'll make an exception." She panted. "It's only fitting that as a Grecian Goddess, we do it Greek."

It hurt her pride a bit that he had managed to make her cum so many times, and he hadn't yet. She was resigned though that it was unavoidable as she hadn't experienced pleasure like this from a man in years.

"Can you feel it?" She asked. "The final barrier and proof of my virginity? An unsullied womb for you to seize and paint with you seed. It's yours to claim, I want you to split it wide open. Make me scream in ecstasy as you fill me, your cock thrusting into any hole you want with reckless abandon."

"Be mine, Leopold Aurealianus, and I'll show you heights of pleasure that you could never dream of!" She promised. "Now, CUM FOR ME!"

The both of them screamed in unison as waves of pleasure overrode their brains. She could feel her lover's hot seed pouring into her cupped hands, quickly overflowing. If she were mortal and he had shot that in her the chances of her not getting pregnant were virtually nonexistent. Carefully she removed her hands from his pants and brought his seed to her lips and drank it, filling her body with power. _So much._ She shivered in pleasure. _Just like I remember. It's only fitting that so much power flows through his veins being the son of a mortal woman that has slain Divine Beings. But what's this taste? It seems…different than before?_

Rather than sating her curiosity, she instead turned to her lover, noticing the mild glazed look in his eye that told her he was still strong willed enough to resist her commands.

 _One more push and you'll be mine._

With a snap of her fingers they were both naked, and they stared at one another in hunger. _Oh you have most definitely grown since I last tasted you._ She licked her lips at the thought of his magnificent cock piercing her depths. Laying on the bed she spread her legs wide, giving him the perfect view of her womanly folds. Smirking, a haughty look on her face, she played with her breast as a hand worked its way down, spreading the luscious lips.

She was sex incarnate.

"Take me, Leo." She commanded.

His hand grasped his cock, the spongy head rubbing her moistened snatch. "What are you waiting for?" She begged. "Hurry and put it in me."

"No." He said his voice full of desperation as he fought against her overwhelming power.

"Leo?" She asked, startled at his response. His eyes were no longer glassy as he slowly began to overthrow the mental compulsions that she had released. "Oh dearest, why do you struggle so?" She asked, sitting up and placing a hand on his cheek, directly pouring her power into his body. "Just give up. What hope does a mortal have in the face of a Divine being?"

Her voice was layered with so many compulsions as well as her unbridled Divinity that ordinary mortals would've been driven mad just by hearing it. "A single kiss and a single thrust, that's all I ask. Kiss me Leo." She said placing her hand on the back of his head and drawing him closer. "A single kiss and never again will you feel pain, or sorrow. Become my Adonis, and every dream that you've ever had will come true." It hurt her Pride as a Goddess that she had to resort to focusing so much of her power just to ensnare a single mortal, but to her it was worth it, and she'd have something that many other goddesses would never have.

Just as their lips were about to make contact, he wrenched out of her grip and scurried hitting the headboard of the bed. Shaking his head he managed to clear his mind. "What?" Only to freeze at the look the Goddess was shooting him.

Narrowed eyes bored into his, a hurt look on her face barely masking the anger that simmered under the surface. "It's futile to resist me." She spat.

"Love is an entirely human emotion, one in which I have control of. As a human you have no chance to resist my call." Her figure loomed over him, the overwhelming power she exuded brought down to bear upon his bare form.

"I am Love and Lust personified…deified and worshiped by millions. While hailed as a Goddess I was born from the Primordial remains of Ouranos. Raised by Pontus and blessed by the others, your powers are nothing compared to my Supreme Might. I've chosen you to be my companion over hundreds of others, and here you are spitting on the honor I bestow!"

"You will love me Leopold Aurealianus, not because you choose to, but because I will it. You exist to please me, and only I shall hold a place in your heart!"

She heard him mumble something, his right eye bloodshot as his power instinctively wrapped itself around him in an effort to protect his body against her crushing might. "You will not!" He growled golden light pouring from his body. The golden light began to push back her own power, the two forces locked in a balanced stalemate.

"What are you? No mortal should be able to resist me so." She asked quizzically, her head tilted.

"Bite me." Venom dripping from his words.

"In due time, Leo." She smirked. "I will show you the pain that accompanies you think the love between you and Cornelia is strong enough to resist me?" She mocked. She shivered at the look of defiance in his eyes, before staring into his sapphire eyes, her mind invading his. However where she expected to see the purple-haired Fallen she instead found herself facing a blonde haired woman of peerless beauty. While nowhere near her own magnificence she will still beautiful enough that as a goddess she felt threatened.

 _Who are you?_ She wondered forcibly delving deeper into Leo's memories. The more she saw the unhappier she became as she saw thoughts of the woman begin to dominate his mind. She had no qualms about what she was doing as he wouldn't have any memories of this after she was done with him. In fact he wouldn't have many memories at all, thoughts of her would be all that ruled his mind.

The woman was familiar to her but she couldn't remember the name that was until she ran headlong into a mental wall. Try as she might she was unable to do more than futilely beat her fists against the adamantine like wall. A foreign force gripped her tight and flung her back, her mental head colliding with the outer edges of Leo's mind.

"Ooof." She huffed, feeling the wind get knocked out of her. Before she could do more than look up the force gripped her again and drew her in at breakneck speeds, her face colliding with the wall. Silver ichor ran down her nose touching her succulent lips, a sign of the first wound she had received in millennia.

In this mental realm physical damage didn't carry over, but the fact that this unknown entity had managed to not only wound her but to also mar her perfect face, lit a fire in the goddess. Uncaring at the fact that she was doing battle in the mind of the man she wanted, she unleashed every speck of her own divine power, lashing out at everything.

However she may have been a goddess, truly a primordial, but she was a deity whose domains were love and lust, not combat. A focused burst of power pierced through the wide waves she was launching, colliding with her breast and piercing her divine body.

For the first time in her life she felt pain. Until then it had been a foreign concept, something that others experienced, but not anymore.

The feeling shook her to her core, as whatever could harm her and draw blood could also kill her.

Fear.

It was another feeling she hadn't experienced and whatever she was fighting made her doubt her immortality. Before she could retreat though, she felt a hand close around her throat and press her against the wall. Choking she beat her fist against the arm that was slowly shimmering into view. A woman clad in resplendent white robes and equipped with golden armor inscribed with Holy Verses. She wore a breastplate, vambraces, greaves and a scaled golden skirt protected her legs. Around her neck was a gorget, and finally adorning her head, was a circlet that was not only decoration but also served to keep her long hair out of the way.

A dainty hand holding unimaginable strength was wrapped around her throat while the other brandished a wicked looking dagger. The cold steel of the dagger caressed her skin, and she couldn't help but shiver at the feeling. This was no ordinary dagger, every instinct she had was screaming to get away but no matter how much she tried she couldn't break the iron grip.

"Shh. Shh" The woman reassured, slowly dragging the knife across her delicate skin. "Nothing can hurt you…at least not in here. You have a lot of nerve trying to mess with my most precious' mind."

Fear and anger drove her, power blasting forth from her body and blowing the armored figure away from her. 12 resplendent wings spread from her back halting her movement as she hung there in the air. "Weak."

"I am a GODDESS!" She swore flinging a concentrated burst of her power at the flying figure. "I AM IMMORTAL AND WILL BE HERE WHEN YOU ARE NAUGHT BUT DUST!"

"No, you're just harder to kill." The armored woman said, batting aside the burst of Divine energy with her hand.

The goddess was shocked at the action, her mind unable to process the casual dismissal that her attack received. "Why are you so surprised?" She asked gently floating back to the ground. "When my Father created his angels he created them as soldiers, I am a warrior of God. I defend mankind against not only the Heresy of Devils but against the powers of other Pantheons. As a Seraph the Holy Light that flows through my body is powerful enough to shield me from even the strongest of Pagan might." The pieces clicked in her mind, the identity of the woman in front of her as well as exactly what was going on and how Leo was able to resist he, but before she could act on it an armored fist crashed into the Goddess' chest blowing her back into the wall.

Before she could even fall a hand gripped her throat once more as the Seraph came closer, her mouth right by her prisoner's ear. "Stay away from Leo you whore." She hissed, before stabbing the Goddess in the heart with her knife.

The shock was too much, and she was forced to withdraw, screaming as the pain struck her mind directly. Both Leo and her rocked back, clutching their heads in pain.

Seeing the opening Leo raised his hand and cast a standard pulse spell. The kinetic force sent her flying, and while it did no damage it was enough for his purposes. His entire form was surrounded by a force field as Pax and Eirene appeared in front of him. "Violence is not permitted here."

Pointing their staves at him he disappeared.

* * *

She screamed in rage as the target of her love disappeared.

She had been so close.

 _Styx damn that Seraph._

Turning to her fellow goddesses she shot them a glare, something they took without flinching.

"Do not blame us." Eirene spoke.

"We gave you as much time as we could." Pax continued.

"The system had already registered you as a threat from the beginning."

"It took our combined powers to prevent you from being thrown out."

"You couldn't have held it off for 5 more minutes?" She asked.

""Impossible."" The two goddesses responded. "Now we must fix everything done because of your request."

"Angra Mainyu, has appeared within our borders and must be driven off."

"Several fights have broken out and they offenders must be expelled."

It was their turn to glare, their combined malice being enough to prevent any retort she may have had. "We expect payment to be delivered promptly." With that they disappeared, off to fix the problems that their fellow goddess had caused.

In the background she could hear several other patrons laughing at her. The cold look she was sending them would've cowed any mortal but these were not mortal women. From the shadows the first to appear was a woman wearing a Greek peplos only cut immodestly short and exposing a large amount of cleavage.

"He's just like his father." She said placing a hand on her cheek as she stared at the spot Leo had disappeared from. "And his magic…he's certainly improved from the young man that came to me for training."

"Circe." She said the name like the vilest curse as her fellow goddess appeared.

"He's still reckless." Another goddess said. she was also wearing a peplos but worn classically with none of the immodest cuts that Circe's had. In one hand she carried a staff that was topped by burning fire. "He should've analyzed the problem from the beginning and created a countermeasure. He should've never been enthralled by this wench."

"Dearest Hecate." A third voice rang out, the shadows melting away to reveal a stunning women. She had black hair with olive green eyes, a strong and haughty look about her, gracing her Nordic features. Unlike the other two goddesses she wore modern clothes consisting of a white floor length dress with a diamond necklace. "You can't blame this all on Leo. After all he is a man, and his chances of resisting women such as you, Circe and me are impossible. This one…" She sneered staring at the goddess she hadn't named. "Is nothing more than a shade of herself, I'm ashamed to share dominions with her. To think that a mortal would be able to resist her charms."

"Sjöfn." She said, naming the goddess that she hated the most. "It's not my fault that he has Holy Light flowing through him. The protection of the Biblical God protects him against our interference."

"Then you simply need to make it so that he comes to you willingly." Sjöfn scoffed. "You are a goddess are you not? You've manipulated heroes for millennia, or have you finally lost your touch in your old age?"

That was the wrong thing to say as she hurled all her anger and rage from her earlier humiliation at the Norse goddess. In response Sjöfn unleashed her own divine might, swatting aside her Greek fellows attack. "Unlike you I've actually fought in combat."

"Luckily for me I've never had to lift anything heavier than a teacup." She responded. "Your brutish figure is proof of this."

"Enough." Both Circle and Hecate interjected, forcibly suppressing the power of the other two goddesses lest a fight break out.

"We were curious as to why Leo was here without Cornelia." Circe said. "To think that he, enthralled or not, would get together with the doorknob of the Gods."

"Doorknob?" Hecate asked.

"You know doorknob." Circe shrugged her shoulders before slyly looking at the fuming love goddess. "Everybody has a turn."

That was the straw that broke the camel's back as she exploded and began to recklessly fling around her power. The three Goddesses smiled victoriously at her childish actions before disappearing in flashes of light.

By the time she was done the entire area was in ruins, as she stood in the proverbial eye of the storm. "I swear on Styx itself, you will be mine Leopold Aurelianus. I swear on my pride as a Goddess of Love, and on my name. I will have you Leo at my side as my plaything. I Aphrodite, swear it."

Saying so she teleported herself back to her palace on Olympus.

In her wake hundreds of mortals lay on the ground, the pain and pleasure that they had been forced to experience as well as the overwhelming pressure exuded by the 4 Goddesses was too much for their bodies to bear.

They died, crushed like ants beneath the heel of beings far greater than them, who toyed with the world on a whim. Under the careless actions of the Divine, it is always humans that suffer the most, disposable pawns in an ever expanding game of influence and conquest.


	13. Act II: The Return

Chapter 13

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Last "Fluff" chapter I guess you would call it. Next chapter we see the ramifications of Leo fighting the Gremory peerage as well as get into the events of the first novel. Also looking for a BETA. Please Read and Review as last chapter received only a few. If interest in this story dries up I will be forced to put it on Hiatus. Your reviews are the fuel that keeps me writing.

* * *

 _Well this sucks._ Leo thought snidely as he floated through the Dimensional Gap. He had tried to teleport out but every attempt to escape the chaotic realm had met with no success. It seemed that he was being held by the twin Goddesses who did not want him going anywhere.

 _Peace my ass._ He sneered, wondering how long they would hold him here. The Dimensional Gap had no air to breathe, and an overwhelming presence that would've crushed anyone unprepared, and even he had naught but a few seconds to erect every ward and protective spell that he could think of in order to prevent himself from being pressed into something the size of a tin can. How could they be representative of peace when they dropped him into an area with survival odds as low as this?

With no escape in sight he decided to spend the time relaxing, thankfully he still had access to his dimensional storage, and a surplus of paper.

Humming to himself he delved into his latest project, trying to solve the equations that his mother had left behind on her path to Ascendancy. He had spent years decoding her notes, referencing thousands of old manuscripts and rediscovering 'lost'

. grimoires all in an attempt to figure out exactly how had she gained so much power without dying. Some of her notes pointed at a deep seated lunacy, as well as a casual disregard towards the lives of everyone on their plane of existence as the forces she was messing with were volatile at the best of times, and downright guaranteed to fuck up your day at the worst.

That is…for the few seconds you had left to live.

He was nowhere close to recreating her ultimate shield and ultimate sword, techniques that severed all of existence and protected one from everything. However decoding her notes had led to a massive increase in his understanding of pocket dimensions as well as how to manipulate the flow of time within them.

Right now he had taken a step back from her ultimate shield, instead trying to create a more focused unidirectional type rather than an omnidirectional one that denied all of existence. It was slow going, seeing as the equations he was working with were incredibly complex as well as needlessly long, his mind unable to make those connections that would help streamline the entire process. This meant that if it ever advanced to the point where it was usable in battle he wouldn't be able to cast any other sort of magic seeing as just about all his brain power would be dedicated to supporting the calculations necessary to stop the attack and at the same time to prevent himself from being sucked into the Dimensional Gap and lost forever. _What would happen if I cut this part out?_

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." A voice said from behind him. "You need that part in order to act as a buffer for the excess energy gained from the Dimensional Gap.

"Excess energy?" He asked. It would've been impossible not to recognize the voice, seeing as she had been one of his teacher that taught him everything he knew about the Grecian Magic System. While at any other time he would've stood up and bowed to her, when they talked like this she had preferred they act as equals. A hand appeared over his shoulder, and began to point out several flaws in his theory.

"Correct, this part here diverts any surges that might happen because of the power draining aspect of the spell."

"Draining effect?" He asked in surprise, before diving back through the notes, trying to find exactly what she was talking about.

"Do you even know what you're doing?" She asked pointedly, her glare reminding him of when he had been a young child under her tutelage.

"No, not really." He admitted sheepishly. "But that's why I'm trying to figure this out."

"Well warn me when you decide to test this." She said. "I'll make sure I'm on the other side of the Dimensional Gap when things go wrong."

"You have no faith in me." He teased.

"I taught you, so…no." She deadpanned. Reaching out she tapped the piece of paper, incinerating months of work, but before he could protest she clapped a hand around his mouth. "This will get you killed, and probably everyone else within a 500 mile area, and as you're sucked screaming into the Dimensional Gap you'll blame me for my lack of teaching. So try it again, and this time think about it like this. Once you feed it the initial fuel the spell should be self-sustaining. Do you think that you're mother for all her power and intelligence would've been able to beat a God of Magic at his own game if she constantly had to spare brain power into computing the spell as well as wasting power to fuel it?"

"Harsh as always, isn't she." Another voice said. This time he did rise, and bow. While she might've been friendly with him, it was still good to be respectful if for no other reason than the fact that she didn't turn him into an animal every time they met. "But then again Hecate has always been serious about Magic. Oh stand up straight, please." She waved her hand dismissively. "After all we've known each other for quite some time."

"I'm showing respect to my teacher." He defended.

"Excuse me for wanting to continue my existence." Hecate snarked. "The magic he's working with is more than enough to annihilate a Divine Being."

"Please, Leo, I haven't been your teacher in a long time." She smiled, placing a hand under his chin and lifting his head, ignoring her fellow Goddess. "Not since you so foolishly summoned and slept with Aphrodite in order to lose your virginity." She relished the blush on his pale features as his eyes looked past her, refusing to meet her own stern gaze. "Most magicians summon up succubi to lose their V card, but you had to one up everyone else and summon a Goddess."

"I'll admit that it might have been foolish." He said dodgingly.

"No it was foolish." She said, steel in her voice as her grip on his jaw tightened a bit. "But we're not here to talk about your past dalliances with the Doorknob."

"Must you call her that?" Hecate huffed, adjusting her peplos a bit.

 _Doorknob?_ A part of his mind was telling him that he was better off not knowing exactly what was going on.

"I'm only telling it as it is." Circe defended. "Now, my dear Apprentice." She said making sure that he could see the annoyance in her eyes. "Would you mind telling me why there are currently two of you walking around?"

 _Busted._ He mentally whimpered. He still had his pride dammit and wouldn't whimper out loud, although by his sudden shifting as well as his darting eyes, she knew exactly what was going on in his mind. Her eyes flashed gold, the only sign of her magic activating, blowing through his defenses, paralyzing his legs.

"You wouldn't be thinking about running, would you?" She asked sweetly.

Any thoughts of defiance instantly died down at the look on her face, telling him that this would be much more painful should he resist. "I know that it's not some form of duplication magic, nor is it a doppelganger or simulacrum. In fact the signature I'm getting from you bears a striking resemblance to a type of Magic that I expressly warned you not to try."

"It's all Gabriel's fault!" He all but screamed. In the back of his mind he felt a ping of annoyance from her at the casual admittance. "I only dabble in Time Magic."

"Good." She smiled, removing her hand and patting him atop the head. He tried not to be annoyed at the action seeing as he was not a dog, but refused to comment lest she did decide to change him into one for a day. Three wooden chairs appeared in a circle. "Now why don't we take a seat and discuss the implications of your little trip."

 _Well…shit._ He didn't know what karmic entity he had pissed off, but it seemed like it was the universe's turn to fuck him up. Reluctantly he took his seat, the paralysis that Circe had cast on him dissipating in golden motes of light. She sat primly, her back ramrod straight, the perfect form of a well-bred lady except for the clothes she wore. "Now that we're all comfortable." He shot her a disbelieving look that she primly ignored. "Why don't you tell me what's been going on with you?"

He sighed, trying to get comfortable sitting on the hard wood chair. "Where should I begin?"

"Why don't you start with everything that happened recently? I've been hearing rumors of the deals you've been making." Hecate said disappointedly.

"What deals?" He asked oblivious to the rumors that were circulating, refusing to listen to them as didn't put any stock in the drunken whispers of those who often spewed them.

"I've heard through the grape vine that you've been making deals with certain gods…and goddesses." At this Hecate shot him a severe look that made him squirm nervously.

"Haha." He laughed with a fake smile.

"While we support your desire to grow stronger what we don't support is the path that you're treading." Circe reprimanded. "Trying to gain the patronage of Apep? Really?"

"Of all the Gods you could've made in roads with you choose the Serpent that literally embodies chaos and evil? The same serpent that Lucifer took the form of to drive man from Paradise?"

"Not my finest moment." He admitted shrinking under their combined glare.

"And what's this I hear about you and a certain Valkyrie?" Circe said.

"Brynhildr." Hecate answered, naming the Norse Deity.

"Cornelia, Valentia Lucifer, Kalawarner, and now Brynhildr. I hope young man that you aren't leading these women on…the effects would be quite unpleasant for you." Circe frowned, divine magics sparking at her fingertips.

"It's not what you think!" Leo stammered, trying to defend himself. He had no plans on being turned into an animal, and his Master seemed to be in one of her snitches. The time where she was smite first, ask questions never. "Brynhildr and I are just friends! Not even friends with benefits!" Seeing the disbelieving looks on their faces as well as the slight halting in power buildup, he hastily continued. "I stumbled upon her prison when I was exploring one day, and accidentally released her."

"Released her?" Hecate asked. "I thought Odin had let her go after the Sigurd incident."

Leo shook his head. "It seems that the loss of Sigurd drove her mad with grief, and Odin put her back to sleep and locked her back up in the cave until I quote, 'she gets out of her emo phase.' He then erected several defenses around the cave, and pretty much said that she wouldn't be dating ever again."

"That idiot." Both Circe and Hecate deadpanned, imagining the sort of defenses that the Old Man of the North would enact to discourage boys from sniffing around his daughter.

"A lot of that stuff was lethal, and even more you would've lived through but regretted living afterwards." Leo admitted shuddering at the memories. "After getting through all that we…talked."

"Talked?" Circe asked distrustfully.

"Talked." He reassured. "It was mostly me getting her caught up on the times, telling her about everything that's happened since the time of her imprisonment. After a few times, the Old Man realized what I was doing, and in between threatening to erase me from existence, as well as questioning my sanity in tempting the traps he created, I was able to sense a deep sorrow. Sorrow at the fact that he had been forced to imprison his own daughter lest she took her own life in a misguided attempt to rejoin Sigurd, the only man she had ever loved, and whom she had killed with her own hands. She's still not in a good state." He admitted sadly. "Though better than where she had been. Odin's lifted the imprisonment and travels to see her often, trying to reconnect with her, and hopefully help her get over Sigurd. Problem is while the Old Man has had millennia to move on, to Brynhildr the memory of killing him is still fresh, considering she has been locked away for so long."

"And you didn't take advantage of her in a moment of weakness." Circe asked innocently. The heated stare he shot at her was enough to make even her hesitate.

"Never…ever…say something like that again." He hissed, his eyes glowing blue with barely controlled anger and arcane might. While he was nowhere near the level needed to defeat a Deity he had more than enough power to make the battle long and bloody. "I would never take advantage of a woman like that. For a woman that helped raise me, you would think you would know that."

She flinched at the verbal slap in the face. While she had no children of her own raising Leo was as close to motherhood as she got.

"Brynhildr is my friend." He admitted, a bit of affection in his voice. To someone like him who rarely admitted to anything that could be perceived as a weakness, it was a powerful confession. "One of the few that I have. If it meant her recovery I would do just about anything."

The two goddesses fell silent at his declaration, realizing the seriousness of his words. "Very well." Circe said, allowing her magic to fade away. "I believe you."

He allowed himself a small sigh of relief as his anger drained from him. He stiffened at her next words though. "It's a shame…you would've looked so cute as a corgi."

 _Holy, she really was planning on turning me into an animal if I didn't pass her tests! And not even a real dog like a Rottweiler or a husky but a freakin corgi, with their fat bodies and short stubby legs._

Getting up she embraced him tightly. "I'm proud of you." She whispered.

"Thank you." He responded uncertainly, his mind still processing her bi-polar swing.

"Now…" She started. "Would you like to tell us exactly what's going on? Why are there two of you walking around?"

"Styx knows that one of you was bad enough." Hecate grumbled, only to be silenced by an indiscreet kick to the side of her chair.

"Get comfy, this might take a while." He warned, transfiguring the wooden chairs into three plush recliners. With that he began the long process of recalling everything that had happened to him with the past 5 years. One of the benefits of being a magician was perfect recall as well as an accelerated thought process, which was definitely needed as he told his master/second mother a heavily censored version of the events. In particular he made sure to remove any traces of his new relationship with Gabriel. It was of course impossible to altogether remove her but he downplayed their relationship greatly, making her seem like nothing more than a friend.

Doing so hurt him, and he could feel her annoyance over the link that they shared, but at the same time they both agreed that it was necessary in order to prevent the truth from reaching her brother.

He shuddered at the thought of Michael finding out, images of him being chased around by the spear wielding Archangel and her other brothers, playing in his mind.

That would definitely ruin his day.

"So let me get this straight." Circe said rubbing the bridge of her nose. "You forged a contract with a Seraph."

He nodded enthusiastically.

"The benefits of said contract led to an increased potency in the Holy Light flowing through you, and during a mission for Azazel, which lead to a conflict with the Gremory Peerage, you overdid it, and almost killed yourself.

Another nod.

"In fact I'd go so far as saying that you would've died if it wasn't for Gabriel. Then to prevent anything like that from happening again the two of you jumped back in time 6 months and spent 3 years together in a time dilated pocket dimension. The reason that you were here tonight is because you're calculations were a bit off and you forgot to account for a leap year meaning that you're a day early. Tomorrow is the same day that Gabriel would've taken you, so as to avoid suspicion you'll appear back at Kuoh the day after making it seem like all is right in the world and that you didn't just almost kill a Satan's family."

Seeing his understanding, she waved her hand and conjured three goblets full of a golden liquid. "This is why I hate time magics." Circe sighed. "Here, I think we all need this after that story."

Taking the offered goblet he drank deeply, the golden liquid revitalizing his wearied body. "Woah." He dumbly commented staring at the golden liquid.

Hiding her smirk at the banal comment, a far cry from his normal sophistication, Circe asked. "So when will you be introducing me to Gabriel?"

"What?" He asked a shell-shocked expression on his face.

"My new daughter-in-law." Circe pressed. "You really didn't think that you could lie in my face did you? I may not be Aletheia who personifies truth, but I've lived long enough to tell when someone is blatantly lying to me." She narrowed her eyes in distaste. "In fact the last person that did so soon found himself in touch with his more…porcine…side."

 _Karmas really come round to bite me on the ass this time._ He thought glumly. Trying to figure out how to explain himself, his adopted mother continued. "And don't even think about lying or attempting to hide something from me young man. You may be an adult now, now but you're not too old for me to take over my knee and deliver an Olympian level punishment."

 _Well…shit._ Reluctantly he began to retell the two goddesses of everything that happened to him since their last meeting, this time giving them the completely uncensored version.

"Now that's more in line with the rumors I've been hearing." Hecate nodded as he finished his tale. "While your mother's name is widely known, yours has recently been garnering a lot of attention and not just because of your relation with her."

He quirked an eyebrow at that. While it was true that he had foregone using an alias when doing business, his clients were normally more discrete about things like this. "You broke the monopoly the Phoenix family had on healing items, have taken several high level contracts on targets as well as threatened one of the Magician Councilors with I quote, "cutting them into pieces small enough to force feed to their familiar."

Circe looked at his exasperatingly. "Did you really have to go so far?"

"The idiot didn't know what he was talking about." He defended. "He was trying to convince us that the forging contracts with Devils was the only way to go, and that we should abandon the patronage system."

"Still did you have to threaten him?"

"If I didn't, then someone else would've." He said resolutely. "Being a Councilor is dangerous business, who knows what might happen during an experiment." A malevolently wolfish smile was on his face as he explained his actions.

"I'm pretty sure everyone would know it wasn't an accident if he was chopped to pieces small enough to feed to an owl." Hecate deadpanned. "Now that we at least know why there are two of you running around, what are your plans for the future?"

"Finish this mission and bug the hell out." He answered without hesitation. "Hanging around those two heiresses will bring us nothing but trouble. I think I'll lay low in Rome for a bit."

"You could always stay with me." Circe offered. "Olympus knows I could use the company." He refused to comment seeing as everything that lived on her island was at one point human. "Though I would suggest avoiding Greece altogether, as Aphrodite is quite keen on claiming you."

"I still don't understand what's going through her head." He grumbled. "There are thousands of other mortals she could play with so why does she decide to take an interest in my life."

"You have no one to blame but yourself." Circe countered. "When you summoned her that night gained her attention, and now you've wounded her pride as a Goddess."

"We Goddesses, are not beings to be trifled with." Both Hecate and Circe intoned, their ageless eyes locking on his sapphire orbs, overwhelming might bursting from their forms.

"She will pursue you for all eternity." Circe warned. "She might even convince some other Goddesses to assist her. Artemis wouldn't take much convincing seeing the trail of broken hearts you left behind."

"Thankfully there are just as many who like you, myself, Circe, Nemesis, Eris, just to name a few. If we add in those that owe your mother for not wiping out their existence that number dramatically increases." Hecate reassured. "We'll keep an eye on her; make sure that she doesn't try anything too dangerous."

"Thank you." He nodded, bowing to acknowledge the debt that he would owe them for the help.

"Now then." Circe clapped her hands." "With all this seriousness over with, what say we go and enjoy ourselves? A night on the town would surely do all of us well, and I know that Hecate could certainly do with letting her hair down sometime this century."

Teasingly she looked at the severe bun that her fellow goddess tended to favor. "That sounds great." Leo smiled, looking forward to spending time with his surrogate mother and teacher. "It's been a while since I cooked for you as well, hopefully you've been eating more than ambrosia you begged off Hestia." Memories of introducing them to the traditional German cooking of his ancestry popped into his mind. Before then they had primarily eaten ambrosia as it was all they needed to continue their existence, but even that perfect food got old after two millennia.

"Why don't you head over to Hestia's Temple." Hecate said. "We'll meet you there in a few minutes."

Taking the dismissal, he stood up from the chair, and allowed her to tap him on the head, his forming fading as his body was whisked away.

"We should get going as well." Circe commented, standing and dispelling the chairs that they had been sitting on.

"Not so fast." Hecate commanded, her grip tightening on her staff. "We need to talk."

"About?" Circe asked innocently, ignoring the narrowed eyes of he fellow deity.

"Don't think I didn't notice what you slipped him. What were you thinking!?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Circe defended.

"AMBROSIA!" Hecate spat. "You fed him Styx be damned Ambrosia! You of all people should know what it can do to mortals, death by incineration."

"But it didn't." Circe answered smugly, dropping the charade. "He's still alive and kicking."

"What did you do?" Hecate glared.

"Do you remember how that fool Herakles ascended to our ranks?"

"Unfortunately." Hecate said neutrally, that lech of a God had inherited his Father's womanizing ways. Next time he attempted to convince her to accept his 'glorious and heroic cock', she'd carve the realization of immortality as being a curse into his body. What she would do to him would make the punishment of Prometheus look like a smack on the hand, and if Zeus had anything to say against what she was doing then she'd string him up with the Golden Net that they had used previously. "When Hera turned him to charcoal through a cursed necklace I provided, his spirit rose up. A few more seconds and we wouldn't have had to deal with him for these past millennia. Damn Zeus for noticing so quickly, and I still can't believe that he was given immortality."

"Do you remember how he was given immortality?"

"Hestia gave him-" She paused, eyes widening in disbelief. "Ambrosia."

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" She screamed in outrage.

"What I believed was necessary." Circe answered. "You know as well as I do what Aphrodite is like, she'll stop at nothing to claim Leo for herself, and as much as I may hate her even I acknowledge that she isn't exactly weak."

"You really think that she would move against him?" Hecate asked. "If word gets back to his mother than she might as well paint a target on her back, as Helena will never stop until she kills her."

"Word will never spread." Circe said reassuringly. "If it did Aphrodite would become the laughingstock of all Goddesses. Can you imagine it, a love goddess who can't even ensnare a simple mortal?"

"Leo is many things, but a simple mortal he is not." Hecate retorted.

"You know that, I know that, but many of the remaining Deities don't." Circe smirked. "Their mistake."

"You're playing a dangerous game." Hecate warned, adjusting her grip on her staff. "If Zeus finds out what you've done, it won't end in banishment. He'll probably throw you in Tartarus."

"He'll have to catch me first." Circe answered smugly. "And besides," her tone grew serious. "A mother's love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity, it dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path."

"Agatha Christie." Hecate commented. "I didn't realize that you liked detective novels."

"It's hard not to like her, even if she was born from Athena's thoughts. How she can be considered a virgin goddess with the amount of children she has running around I'll never know."

Smiling at her fellow goddess' antics, she looked out over the swirling chaos that was the Dimensional Gap. "Leo will be safe." She phrased it as a statement but in her heart she didn't know if she could believe it.

"He will be." Circe said comfortingly, placing a hand on her friend's back. "We'll make sure of it."

"Good." Hecate smiled, the first real change in emotion that she had shown this entire conversation. "Now then let's go meet Leo."

Together the two immortal deities shimmered out of existence, leaving the chaotic void that was the Dimensional Gap behind them.

In their wake a Great Red Beast lazily slept, unaware of the trials that it would face.

* * *

"Is everything alright?" Leo asked once his master/surrogate mother appeared.

"Just perfect." Circe answered.

They were in front of an open air restaurant with a blazing hearth in the center. Smaller fires dotted the perimeter elegant shadows dancing on the Corinthian marble columns. The entire ambiance of the restaurant was one of homeliness. "There's Hestia." Circe waved towards a beautiful woman tending the fire. He couldn't help but smile at the woman, the sense of comfort and protection that she radiated was like a mother's warmth.

It was almost impossible not to like Hestia.

"Shall we?" Each of the goddesses looped their arms with his and together they began to move towards the smiling Deity.

He couldn't help but think of that old joke, only his version was better.

Two goddesses and a Magician walk into a bar…

* * *

After a night spent enjoying himself with the two Olympians, he was reluctant to return to the life that awaited him in Japan. It had been 3 years since he had last seen Cornelia, and for her only hours had passed since he had disappeared.

He hated Time Magics.

While he was happy to be reuniting with his lover, that burning desire that had festered within him when they had been first separated had been reduced to a scant few sparks. _I guess it is true. Time does dull all wounds._ He thought, trying to reignite the smoldering flames that his time with Gabriel had snuffed.

The memories that they had shared though faded with time, were still a major part of his life, and would forever be with him. He remembered the first kiss, the first fleeting touches. That tender moment when they confessed their love for one another, their bodies intertwined in the throes of passion.

He remembers his love for her.

 _His Gabriel._

He froze midstep, wondering where that had come from. His mind had been on his partner, his lov-, best friend. _What is going on?_ He thought to himself. _Cornelia IS my love. The first woman that I ever loved, and my…my greatest one._

In a distant part of his mind a sinister voice wormed its way through his mind, planting the seeds of doubt. _Gabriel. Gabriel. Gabriel._ The voice continually chanted, reinforcing his memories and feelings for her.

The link that they shared was one of the most powerful things that they had, but it was also their greatest weakness. He was a young man less than 25 years old, tied to a millennia old Seraph created by God. His mind was unable to fully cope with the pressure and feelings bleeding through the bond that they had.

Shaking his head, he banished those stray thoughts and began to focus on the task at hand, teleporting himself back to Japan without leaving a part of himself behind. Magic circles wrapped around his legs, arcane symbols and calculations running along the perimeter. It was a carefully balanced piece of work, a thing of beauty to those who understood.

Devils might use their imagination and be able to teleport at young ages, but for human mages being able to teleport was the mark of a master. The calculations were monstrously complex and lengthy, meaning only those well versed in the lore could even attempt to teleport themselves a few feet.

Looking around him, he wondered if he had taken things a bit too far. The once lavish room looked like it had come from a bad B-horror movie. The walls had gouges that looked like they came from a massive claw, blood and other bodily fluids soaked the luxurious carpet as dozens of bodies moaned and twitched. _Damned cultists._ He swore. Seriously who in their right mind would think it was a good idea to see if they can summon an Old God. Grumbling to himself he took a final look at the devices that would cleanse the area. Summoning rituals tended to weaken the boundaries between realms, and the only real solutions were either to cordon these areas off and allow the tears to slowly heal which could take hundreds of years, or to send the entire area into the Gap. Thankfully they were in a secluded area and no one would miss a single cabin in the woods. Granted the area would become a null zone for the next hundred years or so, meaning that magic would either not work or would yield chaotic results but that was better than the alternative of a magician accidently poking around and puncturing the boundary by accident.

Once everything was ready he took a single step forward and with that step the world folded underneath him, whisking him away to Japan.

Moments later the entire area was bathed in a kaleidoscope of colors before the light died down revealing a perfect landscape minus the single cabin that the cultists had been using for their ritual.

Touching down lightly on the porch to Azazel's House he knocked on the thick oaken door. It took a few minutes, as very few people knocked, most who knew who the house belonged to just teleported in, but he wasn't about to risk a light spear to the gut for startling Cornelia.

Pasting a smile on his face as the door opened, he held his arms wide open. "Honey, I'm home."

Rather than jumping into his arms as he thought might happen, or punching him in the gut as he feared, his love simply smiled back at him and moved out of the way. "Welcome home, Leo."

He took a step inside. "What no hug?" He joked, moving towards the kitchen, only to freeze at the other two people in the room.

One was the playboy governor of the Fallen, his smug face invoking memories of Hadraniel, and making him want to beat the Fallen's face until it no longer resembled a face. _Where did that come from?_ He thought. Azazel was like the uncle he never had, he was family and while there was times that he wanted to shoot the man, he had never wanted to hurt him as much as he just did. Rage built up within him the longer he was near the man, straining against his control, threatening to lash out at the first slip.

However it was the second person that he was most surprised to see. It had been a long time since they last saw one another, missions on both sides keeping them busy and separated. She had long silver haired that reached just past her waist, and was a unique beauty, possessing a full and figure and athletic body. Piercing blue eyes similar to his own stared at him with glee as she donned a cocky half smirk that spoke of her supposed superiority. She was wearing a dark pair of jeans, caramel colored suede Chelsea boots, and a black shirt with the image of a white dragon underneath the word Princess.

He almost laughed at the shirt, remembering the time that he had gotten it for her as a gag gift, and she ended up loving it.

And she was laid out on the couch looking absolutely carefree.

Standing above her, he mildly glared at her as she shot him a challenging look, begging him to try and get her to move from her comfortable spot.

 _Damn lazy dragon._ He thought take a seat on the floor beside her, unseen to him was a triumphant smile as she closed her eyes. Immediately her hand came up and began to run through his hair, undoing the ribbon that he used to keep his hair back.

"Enjoying yourself?" Cornelia asked, take a seat on one of the free couches. He wasn't sure who the question was directed towards, but he didn't get a chance to respond before it was answered.

"Yes." The girl responded lazily, indulging in the softness of the couch.

Cornelia's eyebrow twitched at the lackadaisical response from her rival, her response cut off as Azazel began to chuckle.

"Stop messing with her Valentia." Azazel ordered.

The silver beauty glared at him. "My name is Vali. V-a-li." She said enunciating every syllable of her supposed name.

"That's not what the records say." Azazel dismissed. "But we're not here to talk about that. Leo, Cornelia told me you had a bit of a run-in with the Gremorys last night."

"Less of a run-in and more of a one sided beat down." He said leaning into his silver haired lovers talented hands. He'd never admit it but he loved it when they ran their hands through his hair and massaged his scalp. "If they didn't have a Satan in their back pocket they would be no threat at all, and I would've killed them without a second thought."

"You almost did that last night." Azazel pointed out. "And you would've if you weren't visited by a certain woman."

"Gabriel." Cornelia hissed.

Anger bubbled up within him, a feeling of protectiveness surging forth commanding him to strike her down for daring to say the name of his beloved angel in that tone. _What is happening to me?_ He thought struggling to keep these new feelings in check. _Nothing like this happened when I was with Gabriel._ Resolved to talk to his love the first chance he got, he did his best to focus on the conversation at hand.

"Correct, did she say why she was there?"

"You mean besides the fact that she's a crazed stalker and was just waiting for the opportune time to kidnap him?"

The anger redoubled as he slowly excused himself to head to the kitchen. Taking out a kettle he filled it with water before laying a hand on it, channeling his emotions into the metal container. The water rapidly boiled as he did his best to heat it up and not have it flash boil in his face. Once it was ready he took out several cups, one of which he filled with a small packet of ground up valerian root that he removed from the cabinet. Pouring water into that one he swirled it around, letting the powder dissolve before drinking deeply, indifferent to the scalding temperatures. He wasn't sure if it was a placebo or if it really began to work that fast but he felt his entire body begin to relax as he readied a second cup. In an empty teapot he put some loose tea leaves in and poured the water from the kettle into it allowing the leaves to steep for a minute, before taking the entire thing out to the room.

"I'm telling you that she was up to no good." Cornelia defended. "Why else would she have been snooping around an area controlled by the Devils?"

"I doubt it." Azazel countered. "Angels don't know the meaning of spying or subtlety. Their pureness prevents them from doing anything that might stain themselves, and stalking and kidnapping a person for personal gain definitely counts as staining oneself."

"It's the contract we share." Leo said calmly, an effect of the drug taking effect. "She sensed that I was in danger and came to my aid. It was part of the fine print that I didn't see before."

"But why did she need to come anyway? It's not like we were in any danger, after all you had the entire Gremory peerage on the ground and were in the process of Smiting them."

"It seems that the old adage of 'if you don't use it, you lose it' rings true. The Holy Light flowing through me was stagnant, unused, my body ill equipped to handle the sudden influx of power that came with using the power so rarely. She had to remove the overflow as well as forcibly circulate it through me, at this point I'm limited to small uses until such a time that my body acclimatizes to the new power."

"And that took all night?" Cornelia asked with narrowed eyes.

"Yes." The lie slipped out from his mouth smoothly, no hesitation whatsoever. "She also gave me a bit of an exercise plan in order to help my body get used to using Holy Light faster." Reaching into his coat he pulled out a packet of papers and handed them to her. "It didn't take her long to extract the overflow, at least when compared to the rest of the time which she spent showing me how to do several of these safely."

Skimming through it she passed it along to Azazel who took it gleefully. After all when was the next time that he would get his hands on a training manual developed by a Seraph? "Everything looks good." He said. "Though a few of these exercises I would suggest having a partner to watch over you with. Especially the ones on the later pages, some of these are what Sariel uses to train new Angels and if memory serves you'll be sore for weeks afterwards. Thankfully you won't have her yelling profanities at you like a drill sergeant as she randomly hurls spears of Holy Light above your head."

"Oh." Was all that he could manage to say, refusing to affirm the fact that Gabriel had done exactly that when they were alone together.

"Is that all that happened?" Cornelia asked, looking him right in the eye.

"Yes." He answered, before he could even think. The two stared at each other for several moments before the amethyst haired Fallen turned away, apparently satisfied. _Why did I lie?_ He internally asked. _I've never lied to her before._

"Now why don't you give me an update on what's been going on?" Azazel said, his carefree attitude shifting to a serious one.

Even though they had updated him on their progress only a day ago and there weren't any updates they still dutifully reported to the Fallen Leader. Azazel nodded and asked questions at all the relevant parts, clearing up any confusion that might've come about. Vali was also listening even if she didn't look like it as she idly ran her had through Leo's hair.

"I see." Azazel commented, leaning back into his chair as Cornelia finished her report. "Got any of that Pulteney 21?" He asked looking at Leo who had relaxed and almost fallen asleep at Vali's dexterous digits.

"I don't drink swill." The young man answered before pulling out a bottle of scotch and passing it to the Fallen Leader. "Mac's fine oak 21."

"Ah." Azazel remarked pouring himself two fingers of the amber liquid.

"Why are you here Azazel?" Leo asked through narrowed eyes, the longer the man stayed the less control he felt he had.

"I'm hurt." Azazel said adopting a wounded expression. "Shouldn't you be asking the same thing of Valentia?"

"Unlike Vali you bring nothing useful to the table. You're lazy, eccentric, a no-good playboy, and have probably contracted every STD there is with your philandering ways." Leo snapped, the words slipping out of his mouth with ease, as if they had just been waiting to be used.

Three sets of eyes turned to stare at him in disbelief.

"Wow." Cornelia observed. "Blunt aren't you?"

"Don't tell me that it's that time of the month already." Azazel asked, drawing glares from the two females in the room. "Anyways I'm here because of your little text to Valentia."

"Which one?"

"Not the sext ones, thank you very much."

He could feel the heated embarrassment as a blush formed on Valentia's alabaster skin. "Valentia."

"Yes Leo?"

"Remind me to get you a new phone when this is over. Preferably one that your old man can't hack into when he's bored."

Clearing his throat Azazel continued, ignoring the fact that he had all but admitted that he snooped through his adopted child's texts. "It's interesting that you went straight to Valentia just in case you needed backup."

"Why?" Leo asked. "It's only logical that I go to her as she's the counterpart to the Red Dragon Emperor. I'm not taking the chance that the current host might go berserk and ravage the entire area. If something like that were to happen the other Pantheons would be sure to step in and I for one am not willing to answer questions posed by Amaterasu as to why I'm in her domain, fighting the Red Dragon Emperor of all things. Knowing her she'll immediately blame me for the boy going berserk in the first place." For a brief moment he would've sworn that the light streaming through the windows intensified, burning a small patch into the wood that was quickly repaired.

"She still scares you, doesn't she?" Azazel deadpanned. Seeing the lack of response from the young man in front of him he pressed on. "Anyway I previously had Valentia on a fact finding mission that she performed admirably."

"Did that mission have anything to do with figuring out who put out the hit on the Sekiryuutei?"

"Possibly." Azazel admitted, startling all three people in the room. "I need to continue to look into things on my end before I can be certain but everything so far points to a strong relationship. Valentia, I want you to keep quiet about your mission, this is strictly Fallen business."

"What about me?" Cornelia asked, and considering that she was a Fallen Angel she felt it was her right to know.

"You may be one of us…" Azazel started. "But I can't tell you." He held up his hand forestalling any protests. "It's not that I don't want to, but I can't. Your mother would add my balls to her collection if she found out that I told you anything."

"Lady Penemue has not been happy as of late." Valentia admitted. "While she may absolutely adore Leo she still thinks that you should be at home with her where it's 'safe'."

"She's completely ignoring the fact that at your age she was out slaughtering Devils and raising cities." Azazel stated. "Well, now that her mission is over and she has nothing in the future, I thought that maybe Valentia would like to stay here with you guys."

"Really?" Leo asked.

"It's a bit too late to have her join us a school." Cornelia quickly pointed out, not liking the fact that her alone time with Leo would be cut into with the addition of the selfish dragon. While Valentia was willing to share she would also hog him every second that she could.

"School is for plebeians." Valentia rebuked, rolling over so that she could look the Fallen woman in the eyes. "You aren't opposed to me being here are you?"

He could see her struggling with her answer, biting the inside of her cheek as she thought up a response. An act made more difficult as Valentia slowly caressed his cheek, staring at the amethyst haired women with a challenging look. "No, of course not." Cornelia said with a hollow smile, her eyes holding a dangerous look to them that promised pain on the target of her ire.

"Good." Azazel clapped. "Now that that's settled why don't I leave you lovebirds alone." Getting up he grinned lewdly at the only other male in the room. "Don't do anything that I wouldn't do."

"I guess I'll show you to your room." Leo said as they watched the Fallen leader disappear in a flurry of dark feathers.

"No need," Cornelia said getting up from her seat. "I'll do it, it'll give us some time to talk."

"No violence." He said forcibly.

Cornelia smiled, bent over and kissed him lightly on the lips. "I promise."

"Now then," she said facing the lounging woman. "Get up you lazy dragon."

He could only gape as his partner pulled out a conjured stick and began to poke the Heavenly Dragon user, with zeal.

"Are you serious?" Valentia asked, blue eyes cracking open to glare at the offending woman.

"Yes." She smirked, dismissing the stick and holding out her hand. "Come on it's been a while since we've 'talked'"

Something unsaid passed between them as they locked eyes, Valentia slowly nodding a minute later. "It has." Sitting up she spoke to the only man in the room. "Why don't you head out for the night, give us girls some time to catch up."

Seeing his hesitation she squeezed his hand reassuringly. "I won't hurt her."

"You couldn't even if you tried." Lia responded with false bravado.

"Beat it, Leo." Valentia commanded, her tone crushing any retort he might've made. He had heard that tone before and wanted to be nowhere near here when Mt. Valentia blew. With a snap of his fingers he faded from view leaving the two Supernatural women facing off from one another.

"He's gone." Cornelia commented, casting a wide area search spell.

"Spells are up to prevent eavesdropping." Valentia continued, getting up from her seat.

"I've missed you." Cornelia smiled warmly embracing her silver haired friend.

"And I you." Valentia replied similarly, enjoying the contact for a moment before breaking away. "How has he been?"

Cornelia sighed gesturing for them to take their seats once more. "Overworked, stressed, you name it and he's probably suffered from it at one point or another. These past few months have been nonstop deals and contracts with the most obscure of people in the most far flung parts of this dimension. We've literally traveled from Takama-ga-hara, dodging an irate Amaterasu to digging up the old ruins of a Temple dedicated to Quetzalcoatl. Anything and everything that could possibly be used to further his goal of surpassing his mother has been studied and dismissed."

"He's still dead set on beating her?" Valentia asked concernedly.

"You would be too if the shadow of your mother obscured any achievement that you might make. Constantly being compared to a woman who single handedly beat a God at his own game before devouring his very essence. A woman spoken of only in the most reverent of terms whose very existence transcended mortality and borders on the infinite."

Seeing the other woman's crestfallen expression she hurriedly apologized, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry Valentia, I didn't mean to stir up any bad memories."

"It's fine." She dismissed, projecting an aura of strength. "That time is behind me, and the one responsible has long since died."

"If you're sure." Cornelia replied uncertainly, not at all fooled by the front her friend was putting up. "Anyways, I'm glad you're here. Leo tends to listen to you more than me concerning his health."

"That's because he knows that I'll cripple him and put him in a bed for a month if he doesn't take my orders to rest seriously." Valentia said, reclining into her chair. "Better to take a week off and rest than be bedridden for four."

"Hopefully with the two of us here, we'll be able to curb some of his more outlandish tendencies. Recently he's gotten it into his head to play mind games with Sona Sitri."

"That's Leviathan's younger sister, right?"

Cornelia nodded. "I love him like no other but even I'm hard pressed to deal with the fallout of some of his actions. He should've stayed quiet, allowing us to fly under the radar, but no…he had to be the one that tied with her in chess every single time. Then he sparked her interest and she decided to turn the school against him. He got out of it but not without a bit of wiggling and magic use, something that's sure to have tipped her off. She's had familiars scouting out the decoy address we used, and her bishops have even gone so far as to probe the perimeter wards."

"Have you noticed…he's been growing a bit desperate." Valentia said hesitantly. "He's always been driven, something that drew both of us to him, but recently he's been blind to some things. He's making mistakes that he wouldn't have in the past, cutting corners, and rushing to test his ideas."

"I know what you mean." Cornelia answered, her eyes taking on a distant look. "Something is up, but he hasn't told me yet."

Valentia raised a brow in surprise. "He hasn't told you?"

"No." The Fallen woman responded grimly. "I can ask him anything and he'll answer without any hesitation…except for this. This is the first time we've ever had something put us seriously at odds with one another."

"Do you think it might be another woman?" Valentia asked, knowing that it was unlikely.

"I don't mind other women." Cornelia shrugged. "After all, I know that you've slept with him quite a few times." As expected the argent haired women blushed slightly, though it was easily noticeable on her creamy complexion. "So long as I'm number one I don't care if he sleeps his way through entire covens on Walpurgis."

"But maybe you're not number one anymore?" She immediately regretted those words as the temperature in the room dropped to subzero temperatures and items began to freeze over. While she may have been much stronger than the Fallen woman, that did not mean that she was powerless. Cornelia was still an 8 winged angel and while her control over the Light element didn't reach her mother's legendary status she was no slouch and even the shallowest cut from one of her weapons would disintegrate low level devils. While she was nowhere near that level even she would admit that being cut by a Light weapon would be agonizing, though survivable.

"For his sake, he better not have gained another." Cornelia said calmly, a far cry from the tumultuous magics radiating from her.

Fearing where this may lead Valentia quickly changed the subject, moving onto things that were less likely to result in a fight between them.

* * *

He couldn't help but shudder as a cold feeling worked its way down his spine. After leaving Azazel's house he had decided to take a walk around the city, in an attempt to clear his mind. Those thoughts that he had been having earlier scared him, as he had no idea where they had come from.

Soon enough he found himself lingering on the belfry of Kuoh Academy, what was the highest point in the small city. Taking several runestones out of his pocket he began to set up a ward around him preventing any sound from escaping. _I need to know if this is a side-effect of that._ He thought grimly, folding his legs underneath him as he sat in seiza. _Now._ He took a steadying breath as he delved deeply within himself and found the core of his power. _Open yourself to the world._

The floodgates that served to contain his being were wrenched open and he immediately collapsed, screaming in agony as his very soul was flayed and battered.

The Darkness that lurked in the minds of every sentient being, Humans, devils, Angels, Youkai, everything no matter pure had evil within them, and all at once Every Evil in the World took notice of him.

All the malice and feelings of the world began to assault his essence digging their tainted claws into the pure soul that was humans. He saw every degrading act ever performed, every murder, every rape, every vile and twisted thing that was happening, had happened and would happen. They whispered seductive promises offering pleasures unattainable by mortal and immortal means, they tortured and fought desperately scraping at the pure morsel that was his humanity.

Every fiber of his being desperately fought back against the impending evil, but unlike last time there was no Gabriel to save him at the last minute.

He could feel himself sinking in the agony of Malice, the darkness encroaching and dragging him deeper into its embrace. Valiantly he struggled, clawing against the malevolence that drowned out everything.

His struggles were futile, and against the unrelenting tide that was all the Malice of the World his mind and body succumbed.


End file.
